Anomaly Between Worlds (a Food Fantasy isekai fanfiction)
by Danny RPG NineTwoOak
Summary: Due to character limits, I'll keep it simple: This is a first-person isekai story where my avatar (an alternate version of myself) gets trapped in the world of Food Fantasy and tries to adapt to her new life. For more details, see me on Instagram, DeviantArt, and Wattpad.
1. Chapter 1: Newcomer

**There is nothing but silence.**_ Or so it seems._

"_Guys! Over here!"_

"_What is that?"_

"_I don't know, but it doesn't look very healthy."_

"_Let's take it into the restaurant and see what we can do about it."_

How long have I been out? Hours? Maybe a day? I don't know. I open my eyes and I suddenly get hit by an awful migraine. _Oh, man..._It feels like I woke up from barely surviving an explosion followed by a concussion. I quietly let the pain fade for a minute as my sight was clearing up. I was sleeping on a twin-sized bed in what seemed to be a small bedroom, most likely for a long while before waking up now. Beside me seemed to be a familiar anime milkmaid in a lovely black and white dress with black spots at the bottom. There is a yellow ribbon with a small, spotted milk bottle attached for decoration tied above her large chest. Under her dress, she is wearing seemingly delicate black shoes along with long white stockings that stretched above her knees. The woman has long, silky, white hair and there are two small horns on the sides of her head. Her facial features seem warm, gentle, and soft. Completely disregarding her large chest, she's a sight for sore eyes. I'm immediately surprised and bewildered at the sight of her. _This must be one of those weird dreams,_I thought. Oddly enough, despite everything looking like anime, the bed I'm on feels real.… I recognize who this person is; she is a Food Soul from the RPG I play. Since a lot of you don't know (except in Amino and Archive Of Our Own), a Food Soul is a type of spirit in _Food Fantasy_that is a personification of food, with the character near me being the first Food Soul the player receives (along with a few others). Well, technically, Rice is, but that's only in the game's main story, and the player has to participate in a certain event in order to summon her. These Food Souls are summoned to fight enemies called Fallen Angels, and they're the player's allies. However, there are Food Souls that are enemies, but that only happens in the story rather than in-game. There are four different types of Food Souls: Strength, Defense, Magic, and Support. In the case of the Food Soul near me, she is a Support Food Soul. (Though, I refer to her as a Support Soul for short.) In other words, she's a healer. Her name is Milk; don't ask ask me why her name is that, I'm just saying what I know. The woman spoke in a soft but monotone voice, "You're awake. Do not be alarmed; I mean you no harm. I am Milk." I nod and tried to respond, but all I made are nothing more than chirps, trills, low growls, and probably a few other similar noises. I immediately stop myself when I realized this: There's a language barrier between me and Milk. In a strange way, the strange noises I made are loosely similar to the sounds a cat (and/or perhaps some other animal) would make, so it's probably likely I'd use terms like those when I'm saying something out loud.

As I sit up, I realized that she is quite larger than I initially anticipated – and I mean in _height_, reader – which I think is odd because the last time I checked, her bio read that she's about five feet and two inches tall. Considering my sight is really good and I'm able to see every detail in the infirmary, I lightly press between my eyes with my forefinger, because I can't see well without my glasses. Except … _where the hell are my glasses_? It took me this long to realize that she _is_ in her canon height, and I'm about the size of an adult house cat. This has got to be a dream, right? I slap myself to be sure, much to Milk's surprise. Nope, the pain is real. I also just realized that there is a scaly crimson and black snout in front of me, which turns out to be part of my face. Panicking, I frantically check other features that I now have. Before I could finish processing what the hell is going on, footsteps start approaching the door from the other side.

A man and two more Food Souls enter the room. I recognize them right away as Rice, Tom Yum, and what's most likely to be their Master Attendant. Rice is a docile Support Soul who is four feet and six inches tall, she has really long white hair, and vibrant golden eyes. She wears a white dress with a red pattern and she has these ornaments on the sides of her head that appear to be large grains of rice, and she carries a giant wooden spoon. Tom Yum is a brown-eyed and passionate Defense Soul with blue hair; he wears red pants and matching boxing gloves. As for the man, he's the average height of a human, has white skin and short blonde hair, and is wearing a chef's outfit. Milk said, "Ah, you're back. I have some good news, Master Attendant. The creature Tom Yum found has just awakened." Upon realizing what's going on, I totally freak out and yowl, "_Oh, shit! I've become a dragon in an anime world!" _I immediately put my hands onto the sides of my face and let out a terrified scream – er, sorry, _roar_. Everyone else stands there, surprised and confused by my impression of _The Scream_.

Looking at myself, I'm now a digitigrade dragon covered in smooth black scales with a red underside. I've got a pair of horns protruding from the head like a domestic goat's horns. My flexible wings are black and the membranes between each finger are red like my underside and have a leathery texture. I have three clawed fingers on each wing, plus my wing thumb which is a short, thick claw that sticks out from each carpus. My body is fairly thin, but healthy. Well, mostly, anyway. My paws are pretty similar to a primate and I can move my limbs almost like a human. My hind legs are anatomically the same as that of a carnivorous dinosaur except I have five toes on each foot; the femurs go forward, the calves go backward, and the metatarsals go forward. My front legs are made of the humerus (the upper arm) and the ulna/radius (forearm) – pretty much, they're much like human arms (excluding the wing joints that protrude from my shoulders) and even bend like them. I have five fingers on each paw, which include the opposable thumbs. My paws are as black as the rest of me, but my palms and the soles of my feet have a lighter grey appearance. My front paws have long and thin fingers, but my back paws have long and thick fingers. I noticed that my claws are sharp and white, so I'm guessing the same applies to my teeth and horns. There isn't much to say about my tail; it's black, it's what you can expect from a dragon's tail, and there is a ball of red fur at the end of it like the flame of a Charmander's tail that matches the color of my red scales. Unfortunately, I can't describe my face because I don't know what it looks like and I don't have a mirror right now.

Still, this shouldn't be possible at all! I should be dead or something, right? Though, I can't be too sure of that. Actually, I can't remember anything that happened in the last few days _at all_! This is beyond any science I know – even with the latest technology, it's only possible in science fiction. I mean, it's one thing to write or draw something about turning real matter into fictional matter, but it's _an entirely different thing_ to have this actually happen. It's even more impossible with the other way around, right? I mean, _what the hell_?!

With Rice's voice faltering like in the beginning of the main story, she asked, "Is it okay...?" Milk replied, "Physically, yes. Mentally, however, I'm uncertain. But, I could be wrong." Great, now I got characters who think I'm mentally ill, but I probably shouldn't be too judgy about what they said since they've only known me for like, a few hours or something. Tom Yum asked, "Master Attendant Samson, what are we going to do with it?" Their Master Attendant "Samson", with a face full of uncertainty, answered, "I was thinking of letting it go tomorrow; I don't think we currently have enough supplies and I don't think any of us know how to take care of it for now."

As much as I want to interject a response to what Samson is saying, I can't do it right now because of this one-sided language barrier. I'm not giving up easily, though. There's got to be a way to convince them to let me stay in this restaurant. I could try to write _HELP_ or some kind of message into one of the character's arms by scratching onto it, but that's just going to piss everyone off. Plus, I'd hate to hurt any of these characters anyway, since I've known them for about two years. They've agreed on resting for tomorrow to gather more ingredients to continue operating the restaurant next door and releasing me to the wild while they're at it. When the characters' discussion ended, I look at the ground. It seems like an okay height for me jump off. I estimated that I'm nearly three feet off the ground. Plus, I've got wings … too bad I don't know how to use them. Still, I take my chance and hop off the bed, unaware that Rice was going to pick me up, presumably deciding where am I going to be placed for the night.

Involuntarily, my wings unfold slightly and caught a bit of air. I was going to land on my hands and feet like a feline would, but in the moment I caught air, I lost my focus and fell right on the side of my face and my right forearm. Samson and the Food Souls wince briefly at my landing. As I get up, I shake my wrist from the pain. Strangely, it hurt somewhat a lot less than I thought it would. The landing was painful, but I recovered quickly with nothing but a mildly sore arm and face. Heck, I'm not even bruised from this from the looks of it. I guess I'm physically tougher in Tierra? (By the way, Tierra is the fish-shaped, Earth-like world that _Food Fantasy_ takes place in.) Milk asked, "Master Attendant, do you still think it's a good idea to release it back into the forest?" Uncertain and worried about this situation, I slowly shake my head in response, though no one seems to have noticed. I muttered quietly, "_I don't think it's a good idea either."_

I walk away and decide to explore the building. I've already described what the room is like, so no point in repeating what I said. What? I haven't exactly described what the bedroom looked like? In that case, the bedroom is a small cozy room that is a part of the Food Souls and Master Attendant's home, which is right next door to their restaurant. The bed is on the far left corner from the door and was next to a bedside table against the far wall. The other side of the wall was a small wooden desk and a closet. It's like being in one of those studio apartments but simpler.

Now, back to where I was. As I leave the room, I get into a hall like I'm in one of those apartments or hotels, but smaller. I walk there, about to go downstairs when I realized how big they are for my size. Not to mention, I'm now quadrupedal, which made the walk to here pretty awkward but not terribly clumsy as I imagined it would. I think about how I'm going down the stairs and remember observing a friend's Maltese dog and Siamese cat moving up and down staircase back when they used to live in an apartment not too far from my house before moving. I go down the stairs the same way those animals would, but cautiously, since I'm still barely used to being a four-legged dragon. As I go down, I quickly get the hang of it and is guided by my momentum, so I speed up slightly. Of course, when I when I notice this, I try to slow down a bit, making sure I don't lose control while managing my momentum. On the fifth to last step, my palm slips on the wood and I stumble down on my underside until my face hits the floor. Getting up again, I continue exploring. The bottom on the stairs lead to a living room. There isn't much to see there, though. In the center the room there is a rug under a coffee table that is close to a couch and some chairs. By the walls are two small tables with drawers and cupboards on them. About one or two flower pots and a few small picture frames are sitting on top of them. Near one of the cupboards, there is a bookshelf containing nothing more than a few cook books. There is a door under the stairs, which could be either a storage closet or the ice arena for the Food Souls. But, I not really interested in checking it out right now and it could be locked, for all I know. The other door on the far end of the room leads to the restaurant, it seems.

There are three Food Souls who are hanging out on the couch and chairs, which are Crepe, Sandwich, and Hawthorne Ball. Whatever it is that they're talking about has been interrupted by my appearance. Hawthorne asked, "Hey, is that the creature that Tom Yum found?" I approach them out of curiosity. Rice goes down the stairs along with Samson. Crepe asked, "Yeah. And … it looks kinda cute when awake. Especially the fur and face." I stop and frown momentarily at Crepe. Cute, really? Out of all things to say, that's what she comes up with Welp, knowing her personality and Macaron's, I guess I wouldn't be surprised. Though, it seems Macaron isn't summoned. And it looks like Samson has _just_ started out on being a Master Attendant. Considering there are Food Souls, this is probably his second day, based on what I've seen in the game's main story... Actually, since Rice is here, I think this _is_ the main story. If it isn't, then Rice would only be summoned during a very specific event. I forgot what it was called, though, but it had to do with the characters Turkey and Eggnog, and some special wine that was won in a festival.

Rice asked, "'Cute...?'" Samson replied, "Yeah, I guess it kind of is." I shoot them an annoyed glare. I look at the three Food Souls again and got a closer look at the coffee table. There are cards all over it, so I'm guessing Sandwich was playing a card game with the two girls before I interrupted them.

I walk to the door on the far end of the wall. Closed. Of course... If I'm physically tougher in Tierra, then I guess I might have some other abilities that I either never had before, or are greater than in the real world. _Maybe I still can open doors in_ _this_ _form_, I thought. _Only one way to find out_. I calculate the height between me and the door knob and jump. Success! I grab hold onto the knob and my hind legs were kicking around, claws lightly scratching the door, its frame, and a bit of the wall. After gaining footing into the wooden door frame, I carefully twist the knob and gave the frame and wall a strong kick, awkwardly pushing the door open by a few inches. I let go and drop down to the floor, successfully landing on all fours. I quickly grab the door and push it further open, so that it wouldn't close. The other side of the door had a sign nailed to it saying _STAFF ONLY_. On my right is a very short hall leading to the bathrooms. The room on the other side of the door is definitely the restaurant these guys own and work at. Sandwich commented, "Have you seen something like this before, Master Attendant?" Samson replied, "Nope. This is definitely a first." Rice added, "It seems, curious..."

The restaurant has some space containing nothing more then a few tables and some generic decorations, so nearly the same appearance as what the restaurant looked like during the tutorials combined with what you'd expect from a Texan steakhouse. A small one, though. Of course, the theme doesn't completely have that western feel, but that's probably because they just opened its doors, from what I could tell. There is a pair of doors that are for the customers to enter the restaurant, which from the perspective of my phone before ending up here, was somewhere on the bottom of the screen. Now, in my current point of view, it's on my far left. On the other side of the restaurant is a door, which I figured led to the kitchen. The windows of the place shows some trees and what I think is a town, with a lot of moonlight shining through, illuminating the restaurant. There is a clock hanging from one of the restaurant's walls says that it's eight thirty-seven. Recalling the conversation from earlier, I knew that I should get to sleep despite just waking up now. I walk back to the couch from the living room and curl up on the soft upholstery, ready to sleep. Thirty seconds minute after closing my eyes, Hawthorne whispered excitedly, "Wah, it's even cuter falling asleep!" I glance at her and roll my eyes before closing them again. I'm gonna have to get used to this, aren't I?


	2. Chapter 2: A Recipe For Disaster

_**Morning comes by as the**_ sun rises. Its warm, white rays shine on my face as I'm waking up. It wasn't a completely peaceful night, but I slept like a log anyway. Despite this, I'm not usually enthusiastic about waking up. I groaned quietly, _"Oyyyy…. What __a night. That was one heck of a dream. I was dreaming that I was literally in the world of _Food Fantasy_, and –"_ I stop when I realize that I'm still talking in the same dragon speak as before. I look around and see that I spent the night in the couch from the restaurant's living room. I groaned again, this time in annoyance, _"Fuuuck…. S__o, all of that actually happened? Come to think of it, the last thing I can only remember was when I was in that bedroom upstairs and then decided to explore a bit before sleeping here. But, what happened before that?"_ I ponder about this for a few more minutes…. Damn, nothing happened.

I seem to vaguely remember the school ending and me being so eager to get out of that hell, only to dread the days of being in a senior high school near my house. But what happened after that was a blur, as though the memory lapse between then and now was nothing more than a dream. Except, it's the kind that it's instantly forgotten the moment I wake up. No matter how hard I pry into my own memories, the only thing I've managed to draw up there is a blank as great as a void. Albeit I don't remember anything after the vacation began, the rest of my memories are as fine as usual, thus confirming that this is nothing more than short-term memory loss. Of course, I couldn't help but notice the subtle feeling that there's something off about this amnesia, but I wasn't able to put my finger on it.

As I was thinking, I saw a small figure with a whole lot of white hair quietly walk down the stairs. It was Rice, and while being half-caught up in my internal monologue, I distractedly thought that she was going to open the restaurant when I realized that it was still too early for it to happen. She was carrying her giant wooden spoon, but also had an envelope in one of her hands. _How on Earth – er, Tierra, does she walk on those weird shoes she wears? _I randomly thought. Am I the only one in the fandom that has thought of this? I hop off the couch and sneak up on her to see what's going on. Despite my stealth, she stopped and looked at me, knowing that I was following her. She asked, her voice faltering like yesterday, "You're … curious, aren't, you…?" I nod as a reply. She added, "I'm going, out, to look for some ingredients." I replied, "_And I'd guard the place, but it seems very unlikely that any threat would show up soon."_ Not knowing what I said, Rice walked out the front door of the restaurant and sticks the letter that she held at the crack of the door when she closed it.

Shortly after Rice left, I decided to explore the place. I left the door completely open last night, so it's a total breeze to get to the place. On my left is a door to the men's bathroom and on my right is the women's bathroom. I continue moving forward. The restaurant has about fifteen tables, so it may be a small restaurant even though it's large for my size. Supposedly in the start of the game, the restaurant allows one person per table. However, I'm seeing about two chairs per table, which seem to be the Green Peace tables in the game. Except, the chairs are stacked upside-down on top of them. I noticed some photorealistic paintings hanging on the walls, each showing different parts of a countryside, probably from Gloriville. On the right from where I entered the restaurant, there is that table that is covered in a white tablecloth. I'm not sure what's on that table, but it seems to have some utensils, empty glasses, and probably some other stuff for the restaurant. There's a sign by the doors, which contains information about the menu in chalk and another one beside the table with the supplies. I took a peek under the table with the white cloth. There is nothing under there except for an iota of dust that had just started gathering on the wooden floor.

I turn around and head to the kitchen. Like the floors of the dining area and the place next door, the floor of the kitchen is also made of wood. In an event where you collect wormwood with a chance of getting enough shards to summon Qingtuan (her name was incorrectly changed to Matcha Rice upon release in the global server, but they changed it back to Qingtuan), there was a small part in a cutscene where Rice briefly mentioned that the restaurant is prone to mold – now I know why. The majority of the building is built on wood and some metal.

The door to the kitchen opens and Samson enters the room. He gets a few ingredients out of the cupboards from the kitchen and starts cooking. I sit by the door watching. Minutes pass and the small meal he was making is finished. He called out, "Rice? Hey! Rice? Hmm, where could she possibly be?" I was about to approach him, but the door opens. I immediately scuttle clumsily to the back of the counter before I could be seen. Olivia steps into the kitchen and asked Samson, "Samson, are you looking for something?" He replied, "Ah, Olivia, I wanted to make Rice something to eat, but I don't know where she ran off to."

"Are you joking? Food Souls don't need to eat. But, of course, you couldn't have known that." Though that's true, I've read about Food Souls like Cheese who, ironically, love to eat food.

"Hey, that isn't important! The point is, she's missing now?"

"Stop searching and look at this."

Peeking from behind the counter, I could see that Olivia has the letter that Rice stuck to the crack of the door and gives it to Samson. He opens it and reads it aloud: "_Master Attendant, I'm following the route we took yesterday for more ingredients. Don't worry, I'll be back soon. Sincerely, Rice." _Oh, yeah, I remember that; that was when she left to prove Samson that she can fend for herself and wanted to dedicate her life to protecting Samson despite his protests earlier in the story…. _Ooohhhhhhh … sshhhiiitt…! _I hope my presence didn't change anything; I'd probably be screwed if anything happens to Rice because of me.

Samson asked with an obvious hint of worry in his voice, "I'm not surprised. Since yesterday she wouldn't shake that bitter look off her face. But does she really have to risk her life?!" Olivia answered, "Rice would go to this extent for your sake − doesn't that make you happy?"

"I'll be happy if she's safe and sound! I have to look for her!"

"Don't worry. She's a Food Soul. If she runs into trouble, her body will automatically return to the contractor. That is, to your side." That's not the part that worries me the most.

"No. I summoned her. I need to suspend operations for today and look for her!" Samson grabs an empty bag that was on the island rushes to his house. Olivia walks to the dining area and then the house. I secretly follow along, keeping a distance between me and her, so wouldn't detect my presence. I move as quiet as I can, being careful not to let my talons make any noise. So far, so good. Olivia and I stopped when we got to the living room. I heard some loud footsteps rushing above and Samson knocking on the doors there saying something like, "Guys, wake up! We need to find Rice as soon as possible!"

As Olivia starts looking around the around, I walk back to the dining area and decide to hide under one of the tables before I could get spotted. I hear the characters go downstairs and Sandwich's voice ask, "Master Attendant! What's going on?" Samson answered, "Rice is gone. I'm going out the same team from yesterday to look for her. Please keep an eye on the place while we're gone." "No problem, Master Attendant," Sandwich said.

Shortly after the group left, I heard Olivia tell Sandwich and Hawthorne Ball that she's going to check on the other Master Attendants in Hilena to make sure they're making good progress. I assume she's referring to the Master Attendants who are part of the Chef's Guild, but I'm just theorizing here. I get out of my hiding place and approach the two Food Souls. Hawthorne sits down to see me and asked, "Oh, hey there. Did you sleep well last night?" "_It's not the worst night I had,"_ I answered with a hand gesture used as a "yes and no" response. Sandwich asked, "So, you can understand what we're saying?" I nodded.

"That's really cool~" Hawthorne said.

"I don't think we've introduced ourselves, by the way," Sandwich stated. "My name is Sandwich, and this is Hawthorne Ball."

"_My name is Danny RPG,"_ I replied. "_It's a thrill to meet you guys." _Too bad they don't understand what I'm saying. Sandwich asked, "Since we can't understand what you're saying, we decided to call Maolong last night, which Hawthorne told me it meant 'cat-dragon'. Will that be alright?"

"_Sounds good to me,"_ I chattered with a thumbs-up on my right hand – uh, paw... Erm, talons...? (I think the first two are correct.) Once I find a better way to communicate, I can tell them what my actual name is without the language barrier.

Hawthorne asked, "Since Master Attendant is gone, what are we going to do?" Despite the language barrier, I might have an idea on what we could do. I gestured her to follow me. Sandwich stays in the living room to play with his cards. I lead her to the door to the kitchen. Hawthorne asked, "Oh? Are you hungry?" I shake my head, and then point to the door to the entrance of the restaurant, and then the kitchen door behind me. Since, it's going to be difficult communicating with them, I also did a bit of charades and briefly pretended that I'm cooking something, and then I point to the tables behind Hawthorne. I hope she got that message clear.

Hawthorne asked, "So, you're trying to say that you want to operate the restaurant?" I point at Hawthorne, then Sandwich, and then myself and gave her a small nod.

"You're saying you want all three of us to do it?"

I nodded again.

"But, wouldn't it be a good idea to wait until Master Attendant is back?"

She has a point, but I'd like to see how this goes because I have nothing better to do except playing cards. I run to Sandwich and Hawthorne follows along. I perform the same charades in front of him, but with minor changes since I'm not in the dining area anymore. Sandwich sits there, baffled by actions again. "Are you doing charades…?" Hawthorne replied, "It's saying it wants the three of us to run the restaurant until Master Attendant comes back."

"But, does Maolong even know how to do that?" Touché. The two Food Souls look at me. I shrug as a response. "_Seems worth a shot. Though, now that you brought it up…." __Uuuuuhhhhhhhhh_ … maybe we can improvise a bit?

Though the three of us aren't too convinced that this is a good idea, we decide to do it anyway because not even Sandwich can keep himself entertained with his cards for that long until Samson gets back. We get the chairs off the tables and into their upright positions. Sandwich grabs the menus from the large table with the tablecloths, and although I didn't get a good look at it, but I think it said something like _The Glorywest Grill_ or something, which I'm assuming is the name of the restaurant. Hawthorne opens the door to the kitchen and tells me, "Come on, Maolong. Let's start cooking~" She notices the plate that Samson made and puts it in a box. She commented as she puts the box away, "I bet it belongs to Master Attendant. I wouldn't want it to go to waste. Still, why wouldn't Master Attendant eat it? What do you think, Maolong?" The door to the main entrance is heard opening and Sandwich's voice greeted, "Hi, welcome to Glorywest Grill. How may I help you?" _Oh, so is it just 'Glorywest Grill'?_ I asked myself. _Okay._

The customer requested water and a plate of crisped pork and a side of fries, which Sandwich gives the order to Hawthorne and I jump up to the sink and prepare myself to wash the dishes. After giving the food to the customer, more start showing up in the small restaurant. About four hours later, the job starts to get tiring and I notice that I haven't eaten anything all day except very small amounts of pork that Hawthorne gave me as she was making a Gloriville dish about half an hour ago. There is a sound of Sandwich exclaiming, "Whoa! S-sorry, sorry about that!" along with a sound of loud, awkward footsteps. "Are you alright, sir?" asked Sandwich. "Ah, that's good to hear…. I'm fine, and plus, the food is saved. Enjoy your meal, sir~"

Sandwich enters the kitchen and asked Hawthorne, "Hey, can we switch places? I thought I might try cooking; serving dishes can get pretty tiring after a few hours." Hawthorne replied, "Sure." I continue washing the dishes and look at them with uncertainty. The next hour went by better than I expected. Though, because Sandwich isn't as skilled at cooking as Hawthorne is, during the hour, he accidentally overcooked about two or three meals, and unintentionally burned the fries and chicken once or twice. I also heard from Hawthorne that two Fallen Angels in disguise planned to pull a Dine-and-Dash, but decided to leave without ordering anything (and left a few pitiful Tips, a type of in-game currency, for Hawthorne to pick up). A few customers left as well, giving worried glances about our stunt and seemed suspicious that our Master Attendant doesn't know about this.

An otaku and a girl who appear to be a college students enter the kitchen. The otaku told us "Um, hey, your friend told me that we can volunteer to help you guys run the restaurant." I stay quiet and continue washing the dishes awkwardly like the two people aren't here. The girl asked, "Is that a dragon?" I nodded. Hawthorne answered, "We'll explain later. For now, we gotta cook this food and give it to the customers."

The otaku helps me take care of the dishes. After a while, I went to help Sandwich cook the meals he is making. The girl helps Hawthorne serve the dishes to the patrons and provide the bills for the food. Thanks to their help, the day went by smoother than we started. We reach closing hours which is at 7:30 in the evening, and all of us start cleaning. The girl and I finish washing the dishes and putting them away, the otaku and Hawthorne sweep the floor, and Sandwich singlehandedly takes out the trash. After we're done, we gather in the kitchen and Food Souls start explaining. Or were about to when the back door opens. Samson and his Food Souls enter the kitchen with a bunch of ingredients in large bags and baskets. Among the team is Rice, who is completely unharmed. I exclaim gleefully, "_Rice! You're back! I was so worried about you."_ Sandwich commented, "It looks like Maolong is happy to see, Rice." "'Maolong…?'" Rice asked. Samson answered, "It's a name Hawthorne came up for the dragon. Who are you two?" The girl answered, "Your Food Souls and especially the dragon wanted to impress you by operating the restaurant while you were away. Since they're inexperienced, it wasn't a good idea, so my friend and I volunteered to help them until they reach closing hours." The otaku added, "Still, they handled the first half of the day better than I expected." Hawthorne stated, "We wanted to earn that extra money so they could give it to you, so you could pay for taxes and be able to afford those ingredients from the market." A few seconds later, Samson said with a dumbfounded look, "I … don't know what to say about that…. But, you can leave. I'll talk to these three." "Okay," the otaku replied. "Oh, and a few words of advice. Summon more Food Souls so this can be prevented. And please train them to become more experienced and mature. Otherwise what you guys learn will be meaningless. Good day, sir." He and the girl leave. After a stern conversation (though, the money we earned softened the blow a bit), they head to their rooms and I get onto the couch from the living room. I reflect on what I've done, taking all of the responsibility so hopefully Sandwich and Hawthorne wouldn't feel as bad, and drift into sleep.


	3. Chapter 3: Idle Caretaking

_**It would have been a**_ peaceful morning where I wake up to be welcomed by the warm and cozy rays of one of the two stars that Tierra orbits around. Instead, while having the sun shining on the couch, I wake up with an awful stomachache. I wonder if it's from the pork that Hawthorne Ball fed me with yesterday. Don't get the wrong idea; the pork is in excellent if not superior condition. The thing is that she gave me pieces of raw pork because she thought that, like other predators out there, I'm a carnivore that eats raw meat. As much as I wanted to decline, I was starving, so I took it anyway. Plus, I was curious about its taste and how would my insides handle it since I'm not a human anymore. As you can tell by my pain, it was a dumb mistake. Ugh, I feel terribly nauseous…. And the guilty regret of pulling that stunt yesterday makes it worse.

I run to the restaurant, head to the door to the women's bathroom, and push it open. I enter the bathroom and into one of the stalls. As I'm vomiting, the bathroom door opens and someone enters the room. _Is the restaurant open already?_ I thought. _I must've woken up later than I thought. _"Maolong~ Where are you?" a voice asked. It turns out, it's Hawthorne Ball who entered the bathroom. She said in the usual cheery voice, "Oh, there you are, Maolong~ What are doing in − huh? Were you barfing? I didn't know you were sick. Why didn't you tell me?" I wipe the residual bile off my mouth, flush the toilet, and explain the reason for my nausea through charades. Hawthorne tries to interpret what I'm saying. "So, I was … chopping food? No? I was making a meal and … I gave some to you? Oh, no, wait! You're trying to say that you got sick because of the food I gave you? Why would you get sick from me doing that…? Because … the food was … not cooked?" I nodded in response. She asked, "So, you're saying that you got sick because the pork I gave you was raw? Why didn't you tell me that sooner? I could've cooked it for you."

I point at myself, then use hand gestures to imitate talking, and I cross my arms to form an _X_.

"Because you can't talk?"

Correct again, Hawthorne; I give her a thumbs-up to tell her that.

"If you can understand what I'm saying, why is it that you can't talk?"

I shrug with a baffled look.

"C'mon," she said as she pick me up, "it's probably a good idea to tell the others." She carries me out of the bathroom the same way someone picks up a cat correctly and explains Samson about it.

Once again, he and the other Food Souls try to process everything what she said about me. I'm starting to feel rather sheepish about this. "I'm starting to think this isn't an ordinary creature we found," Black Tea said. "It has hardly been two days, and already Maolong has shown very strange behaviors. Almost as if it's sapient like a human." She's another Food Soul that Samson has, and one of the strongest a player could get, and the only time she's summoned is when the player summons the first few Food Souls during the tutorial of the game. She has this graceful and majestic appearance, she wears this dress that has a faded dark pink color with blue and white features, which includes a skirt and a square neckline. Along with the dress, she has matching high-heel shoes and a hat with a light purple ribbon tied around it. The dress and shoes are seriously modified for combat and mobility, which makes her legs visible and makes capable of moving in her shoes without getting hurt. She has two short belts strapped around her right thigh, and one strapped around her waist, which holsters her two elegant pistols. Her face is smooth and somewhat austere yet soft at the same time, not unlike what you'd expect from the face of a marble statue (or possibly and angel), her eyes match the color of actual black tea, and her hair is of a black (or probably a very very dark gray) color. There's somewhat of a steampunk style to it.

"Yes," Milk added, "and unlike most carnivorous creatures, it got nauseous from eating that raw pork." Samson replied, "And what's even weirder is that it used the women's bathroom to vomit rather than anywhere in the restaurant." "Could the dragon be a girl…?" Rice asked with the look of wonder on her face. I nodded with a small smile.

"Now that that's out of the way," Samson said, "we can try to figure out what to do with her, but first, we still need to train you guys to become more skilled and experienced with cooking and finding ingredients." Tom Yum enters the kitchen. "Hey, Master Attendant. I just received this letter from Olivia." He gives it to Samson. It has a red wax seal on it with what looks like the logo of the Chef's Guild. Samson opens and reads it. Black Tea asked, "What is it, Master Attendant?" He answered, "It says that a benefit for new attendants is that they get an optional chance of directly summoning two Food Souls. It looks like we have twenty days to accomplish a series of tasks in order to get them. I have twenty-four hours to respond before the chance is missed."

"Are you going to do it?"Tom asked.

"If it keeps us safe from Fallen Angels, why not? We should also open up the restaurant. You guys know what to do; I'll monitor you guys shortly. In the meantime, don't do anything crazy this time. Black Tea and Tom, you two help Hawthorne and Sandwich. Milk, you and Crepe keep an eye on Maolong and sure she doesn't do anything crazy either." You got it, chief. I'm looking forward to this.

We open the restaurant right away. I get taken to the living room to be supervised by Milk and Crepe. Samson goes upstairs with the letter, so I'm sure he's going to write a response to the Chef's Guild. I'm not sure what is going on the kitchen, but I'm sure that things are going alright based on how generic and chill the patrons sounded. Milk explains to Crepe what she learned about me, which Crepe seems intrigued about. Crepe, much like everyone else, is surprised and confused about this. It took her several minutes to fully process everything she heard. She asked, "Let me get this straight: Tom Yum found a creature that turns out to be a dragon who acts so strange it's as if she has the mind of a human?" Yep, she heard that right. Milk replied, "Yes, that is correct." I nod along with what she said.

Crepe is a Rare-rank Strength Soul who thinks highly of herself. She wears a dress that has different shades of beige, with the front having a pale pink color with a frilly skirt; along with the dress, she wears stockings that have a yellow and white striped pattern that stretch up to her thighs, and she has brown shoes with red soles. Due to the aesthetically pleasing coloring and the design of her outfit, the entirety of the whole thing is indeed reminiscent of actual crepes. Crepe has white skin, hair that has a faded orange color, and yellow eyes. She wields a fan, which she uses as a weapon and to cover her smile.

My stomach suddenly growls. It aches a bit from eating so little lately. Of course, Crepe and Milk noticed my hunger despite my attempt to muffle it. Crepe asked, "Hey, Maolong, are you hungry?" "_Yes,"_ I nodded. Crepe told me, "Hang on, I'll be right back." She goes to the restaurant. Several minutes later, she comes back with a plate of grilled pork belly, which she places it to the floor so I can have it. Despite the lack of utensils, I ate it quickly and happily. After I finished, my tail flicked as I smile. I give them a smile and a thumbs-up. _That's what I call an unforgettable dish_, I thought, _definitely scrumptious._ The pork was fatty and lean. It was soft and easy to tear into pieces, making it easy to chew and swallow it. That hint of salt is noticed by my palate, which enhances the texture and flavor of the pork. Crepe takes the dish back to the kitchen and come back.

Nothing much happened for the rest of the day, but Samson did come back downstairs. Out of curiosity, I open the door and follow him. Milk and Crepe try to catch me, but with little success. While being careful not to disturb the customers' peace, I rush through the parts of the dining area where they'll least likely notice me. Still by the time I got to the kitchen, there were already some murmurs from the patrons that sounded like questions. A pirate asked Hawthorne (who is giving a plate of smoked salmon to them), "Hey, what is that creature at the kitchen door?" She answered, "She's a dragon. Though, we're trying to figure out what to do with her." Ignoring what the customers are saying, I enter the kitchen. Master Attendant is at the back door with an unknown person who is entering the place. The person appears to be a somewhat tomboyish elf with a Caucasian skin tone. She has purple eyes, orange hair with a yellow highlight at one of her bangs, a bandage over her nose, and is about the height of Samson. (Maybe two inches taller.) The elf is wearing a white shirt with a black vest, each of her wrist has a wristband that matches the color of her clothes, she's wearing blue pants with two navy lines stretching down her legs, and she has the kind of light brown boots with laces. The elf asked, "Hello, are you the Master Attendant of this place?" Samson answered, "Yes." She continued, "I'm Akira, and I'm going to be monitoring your progress on your first month as an Attendant to give you the chance to earn two Food Souls. Let's start off with signing this contract in order to participate in this event." She give him a contract, which includes the logo of the Chef's Guild.

Although it's hard to see from where I'm standing, since I'm the size of an adult cat, it looks Samson is writing his name on the contract. Since it's those New Player Benefits, it would be nice to do it again after many months. Plus, it'll help Samson to have someone with experience. Milk picks me up and takes me back to the house. She said, "I know you're curious, but you shouldn't be here." Damn, looks like I'm going to need to convince these guys that I can help. Somehow. I hear a commotion going on in the restaurant. Milk checks the dining area Black Tea is confronting them along with Hawthorne. The customer, a robber, it seems, asked, "What kind of half-assed dish is this? I'm not paying for that shit!" Hawthorne is standing by Black Tea, seemingly nervous and afraid. Black Tea replied, "We work hard on making a living and trying to make our customers satisfied. This is the best we've got. If you're not happy, _leave_." Samson asked, "Hey, is everything alright? What seems to be problem?" Akira answered in an alarmed tone, "Oh, great, we got a Dine-and-Dash customer. I was hoping they wouldn't show up until much later in the future." Samson, who is new at this asked, "What do I do, then?"

"Kick them out! They could be a Fallen Angel!"

I'm not sure what did the robber say to Black Tea next and what she said in return because I was paying attention to what Samson and Akira are saying, but it looks like the conflict escalated very quickly. The robber transforms into a Bulimia and the other customers run out of the restaurant screaming in terror (and some were quick enough to leave some of their money behind to pay for the bills they haven't received yet). Milk puts me down and orders me in the same monotone voice as ever, "Stay hidden." I nod and hide behind one of the tables as I watch Tom and Crepe get into the dining room.

Not to be confused with the eating disorder that us Americans seem to have, Bulimia is a type of Fallen Angel from the game. Bulimia is not as powerful as an Uke Mochi, but she is still a threat to the average person. There are different types of Fallen Angels, which are: Normal, Evolved, and Enhanced, but I'm not getting into that much detail yet. In the case of Bulimia, she's an Evolved-type of Fallen Angel that has an obsession with eating, hence the name. Usually, Bulimia only care about are recipes they can make from humans, but I guess this one is a bit picky. The Bulimia has grey hair with a few bangs that cover part of her face. She has very dull and seemingly dead crimson eyes, pale skin, and a few stitches around her wrists, forearms, and one around her neck. She wears a grey and faded red dress that I don't want to know is made out of. I admit, though, her dark grey leather boots with laces that are the kind with a bit of heel and stretch up to the knees are pretty cool. I wonder if I can get a pair like that somewhere. Oh, wait, I'm a dragon now. Dammit…. Anyways, the last thing to say about her is that Bulimia has a frilly headband on her head, and she carries a platter full of raw organs and what I hope aren't human entrails. (I think I saw an eye in there. I shudder quietly at this.)

Black Tea fires with her two pistols, emitting loud bangs. The bullets miss and ricochet off the floor and the wall. Tom delivers a blow to Bulimia's diaphragm, which she dodges and throws whatever the hell was on her platter to Crepe. She didn't dodge on time and takes some damage to her health. Still, with her fan, she conjures a magical tornado that somehow avoids the tables and chairs while being powerful enough to damage the Fallen Angel. Tom punches Bulimia in the face immediately after the tornado dissipates. Milk heals Crepe as the Fallen consumes a handful of human remains from her platter. _¡Hijueputa!_, the smell from that thing! Whatever is in that platter is making me gag! I think I'm going to get sick again…! No, I'll hold it back and swallow it this time. I'm not making a mess here. Black Tea performs a minimized version of her linked skill (named Super Flower Blossoms), which she fires her two guns at Bulimia, and the bullets burst into a large flower, dealing critical damage to the Fallen Angel. Tom deals the final blow, his energy skill Swing Kick, which he jumps, kicks the Fallen a few times and does a backflip that kicks the Fallen in her face mid-air, and she gets knocked back to the floor. As she is knocked back, she stumbles onto a chair, upends a table, and falls to the floor. She doesn't seem to be breathing anymore. The Fallen Angel dissipates into nothingness. I've seen their sprites (those animated chibi versions of the characters) in action, and it's pretty badass. Seeing it in person was slightly anticlimactic, but that's probably a good thing because we wouldn't want the restaurant to be more trashed than it already is.

I'm still surprised that I can pick up that sickening smell from earlier, but it's likely others have noticed it too. As for the restaurant, there is a small bullet hole in the wall and one on the floor, but everything else is surprisingly in a great condition. The chairs and tables are intact, the windows are fine, the wall can easily be repaired. The only casualties here are the plates that fell to the floor, which resulted in some scraps of food scattered here and there. Welp, let's start cleaning. Akira, asked, "Don't you have an arena where you fight customers like that Bulimia?" Samson answered, "Arena? No one told me that this was going to happen." "As a Cooking Attendant, you should know that when you operate a restaurant, there is a chance of having a Fallen Angel in the place. But since you're so new at this, it looks like you have a lot more to learn than I expected. Plus, you have a few Food Souls that tend to be a bit unpredictable for someone inexperienced." Samson added, "Not to mention, I have a dining area to clean up, and a lot of plates to pay for." Maybe we can raise some money to build one of those arenas that Akira mentioned. But, this is probably not the best time to bring it up, and the last time I had an idea like that resulted in a recipe for disaster.

We spend the next half hour cleaning up the place, picking up any scraps that might be there, and sweeping away any dishes that broke during the fight. As I'm picking up scraps that are much harder to notice, Akira asked, "Is that a dragon? What's it doing here?" Hawthorne answered, "Yeah, and it's a weird story. Isn't she cute, though?~"

"'She'?"

"Like I said, it's a weird story."

I nod and continue cleaning.

"Okay…?"

By the time those thirty minutes passed, Samson reopens Glorywest Grill. I volunteer to wash the dishes again as Samson teaches Sandwich and Crepe a few recipes he knows while helping the former with the parts of cooking that he struggles with the most (especially considering yesterday). Tom, Milk, and Hawthorne serve the customers as waiters, and Black Tea helps me take care of the dishes and other items that need washing. Meanwhile, Akira holds her clipboard and has been keeping track of our progress. Surprisingly, there hasn't been any Dine-and-Dash customers since this morning. By the time we reach closing hours, we have earned about two thousand gold and fifty tips. After getting everything done for the night, Akira leaves, and we all head to sleep.

The next day is quite normal. This time, Sandwich is keeping an eye on me. Milk, Hawthorne, and Black Tea go out to restock on ingredients. Tom and Samson are doing the dishes, and the rest are either cooking the food or giving it to the customers. Since it's going to be a long while, I decide to take advantage of it to learn how to play card games with him. Idle, I watch him play what I think is solitaire. I watch as he shuffles his deck of cards. I never really understood how that game works, even though I've seen my mom play that game on her computer for years. I suppose I could try to "wing" it, eh?~ (Insert rimshot here.) Yeah, I guess that's the only option of what I can do right now. Maybe we could play Go Fish or Poker. It never hurts to ask.

I pick up a card, a jack of hearts. I think about where to place it, but I'm not sure. "It goes over here," Sandwich said, pointing at two cards that go from a king of diamonds to a queen of spades. I put it over there. He asked, "Do you know how to play Klondike?" I shake my head. "_No__t exactly__."_ He puts his cards together into a deck and shuffles them. He began, "Klondike solitaire is a popular card game where only one player is required, and it's with a single deck of cards. What you do in this is you attempt to sort them by suit –"

"_'__Suit'? What do you mean by that?"_

"Huh? What is a suit?"

I nod.

"Well, aside from the outfit that you probably know or don't know, a suit is one of the four classes into which a common deck of cards is divided. So like, spade, cloves, d'you get it now?"

I nod.

"Now, with this deck, you sort these cards by suit and in order into four piles of cards. Let's start out."

He teaches me how to play the most traditional version of Klondike, which is where I draw by three cards. I learn somewhat quickly after three rounds of the game. Before I know it, I get immersed into the game, with Sandwich helping me out and giving me pointers on coming up with strategies for different versions of Klondike. Yeah, we got stuck a few times, but I reckon that's normal. We also took a break every fifteen minutes, which keeps the mind from getting bored, I assume.

I notice while playing that there is a clock hanging from one of the walls. I think two hours have gone by. Tom opens the door and said, "Hey, Master Attendant asked me to switch places with you." Sandwich replied, "I'm about to start a game, but sure." He heads to the restaurant while Tom starts keeping an eye on me. I wonder what sort of progress have the others made.


	4. Chapter 4: Slice of New Life

_**It's been my fourth day,**_ and Samson has received a strange item from Akira. It's some sort of thin square card made out of an unfamiliar purple crystal. One of the sides has an image of someone, most likely the face of a Food Soul. I don't know how, but I could faintly small freshly-baked brownies from that thing. My curiosity peaks again. I follow Samson as he goes through the door under the stairs. It's another hall with a few doors. I check one of them. It's a storage closet containing cleaning supplies. Another one is a storage closet with shelves containing vials of a blue liquid and boxes full of glowing leaves. I recognize them as EXP bottles, mostly small ones and a few medium ones. The leaves are referred to as Beginner Seasoning, but I call them EXP leaves or something like that. "These items are for increasing the skills of the Food Souls," Samson told me. "That's what Akira told me. I think I just give it to them and they'll level up. We don't have a lot, as you can see, but we'll gain more if we use them wisely and go out fighting Fallens." I close the door. We continue walking to the end of the hall.

We enter a room, which has a large, very intricate machine connected to a boiler, so I'm guessing it's steam-powered. Behind it is a window, and a chamber is connected to the left side of the machine. It looks like a portal with two rings in the center with a small staircase platform that support the rings, and anyone can get through them because of the platform's design. The chamber has a small door next to a vertical slot the side of the purple card. The chamber is connected to a tube that leads to the machine. The rings have what appear to be flat pieces of metal shaped to look like utensils and food (plus a smoking pipe) from all over my old world. For example, one of the pieces on the inner ring looks like a cartoon taiyaki on a stick while one from the outer ring looks like a pair of chopsticks. It also has a bunch of gears, cables, dials, and some other things that I don't know how to describe. Samson pulls a switch that is on the right side of the machine, which turns it on, and the rings start rotating at a casual speed. The outer ring rotates clockwise while the inner ring rotates counterclockwise.

He explained, "This machine summons Food Souls, from what a woman named Olivia said. It takes up a lot of power, so I keep it turned off most of the time." He inserts the card into the slot, and pulls another switch on the right. The rings spin very rapidly. Two wisps of light materialize and meet at the center of the rings. There is a powerful gust of wind occurring, pushing me and Samson back, but we resist. Along with the wind, a silhouette appears on the platform. The light and the gust diminish, the machine whirs down, and the rings rotate back in their original speed. The Food Soul in front of us greeted formally, "Hello, you summoned me. I am Brownie. Thank you for allowing me this opportunity to assist you. I will do my best." Samson replied "You're welcome. I'm Samson, the Master Attendant of this place. And this" – he picks me up – "is Maolong, our dragon friend." "_'Sup, dude?"_ I − meowed, I guess? – as I use a small hand gesture as a greeting.

"That is very unusual. I do not think I've seen a pet like that before."

"Well, I wouldn't call her a pet."

"_Eh,"_ I shrugged, "_I don't mind."_ I figured someone would call me that at one point.

"Oh, it looks like she doesn't mind being called a pet. Even though you're not an actual one, Maolong, so don't get any ideas."

"_I won't. I can take care of myself pretty well."_

He puts me down and We head to the living room. Sandwich is playing go fish with Crepe while Milk and Black Tea are having a conversation. Sandwich looks at us. "Hey, Master Attendant, is that the new Food Soul?" "Yes," Brownie answered. "I am Brownie, the new butler for this place. It is a pleasure to meet you."

Brownie is a Magic Super Rare-rank Food Soul with light blue eyes and brown skin. He is wearing a butler's uniform and a matching hat with a ribbon tied around it. The butler has a solemn and very formal personality, and I've read enough fanfiction to know that he rarely lets himself rest. In fact, if you leave him idle enough in the game, there's a voiceline where he nearly passes out from not getting enough sleep. His hair length is between average and short, and is black with the tips naturally fading to a light blue tint. On his back, he carries a massive gun, which is often referred to as either a cannon or a blaster in the fanfiction I read. Though he's not the strongest Food Soul, I'd still hate to mess that butler. His skill is linked with another Food Soul named Napoleon Cake, and his presence activates the linked skill of yet another Food Soul named B-52. I'm not afraid of being near Brownie, but I would absolutely hate to be the victim of his weapon, let alone use it. I mean, that gun is huge – how does he not get knocked back by its recoil?!

Anyways, after that intro, Samson opens the restaurant, and Brownie and Black Tea are given the task of keeping an eye on me while the others manage the Glorywest Grill. Since there's nothing much to do, I asked, _"__S__o, uh, do you have something that I could write with?"_ Brownie asked, "Do you understand what she is saying?" Black Tea replied, "If only. She is a sapient being, but we can't understand what she says, so she tries to communicate us through charades." I added, _"__Yeah, it's not very effective, but I try my best."_ I requested Tom that he would get some paper and a pencil, but he doesn't have any of those items, and Samson hasn't had a chance to get some writing supplies yet. Tom did ask Master Attendant, though. I think he'll buy a notepad and a few pencils at the end of the week. Black Tea asked, "Do you have something that Maolong could use to write with, Brownie?" He answered, "I do have a notepad and a pen. Here." He pulls a pen and a notepad from one of the pockets of his uniform and gives them to me. I wrote _My name is Danny. I mainly go by "Danny RPG," but I don't really care. It's nice to meet you guys, by th__e way._ I give the notepad back to Brownie. They seem unsure of what to say, or they had a hard time reading my handwriting. But, Black Tea replied, "It is nice to meet you too, Danny RPG." Brownie asked, "What does 'RPG' stand for?" I wrote _Role-Playing Games. I'm a fan of them._

There is a brief period of silence, as though they don't know what I'm talking about. Black Tea asked, "Where are you from?" I was going to write that I'm from Lopan, Texas, but things will end up getting suspicious for them, and if I told them that I got mysteriously isekai'd into a game, they might end up either thinking I'm crazy or they might have a pretty nasty existential crisis. Then again, they already think I'm weird, but I intend to B.S. my way through this one, just to be safe. Instead of telling the whole truth, I wrote _Unfortunately, I can'__t remember._ Brownie asked, "So, you have amnesia?"

_I'm not sure. Though, I seem to remember my motor skills very well. It's not like I have any place to go anyway._

"Were you living in the forest before your amnesia?" Black Tea asked.

_No. I'm not an outdoors person._

"So, what were you doing in the forest?"

_I honestly have no clue. Since we're getting nowhere with this interrogation, can I live with you guys? Please? I don't know how to survive in th__e wild._

The two Food Souls remained silent. This is the most awkward conversation I've ever had. I don't think anything could top that. Well, except maybe for that one conversation I had, but I forgot what it was about. Black Tea answered, "I will have to talk to Master Attendant about that before answering." There is a commotion happening in the dining room. It sounds like another Dine-and-Dash customer causing trouble. "Wait here," she said. Brownie and I stay in the room. As Black Tea rushes to the restaurant, I glimpse at two customers transforming into a Rabbert and a Rocketero (which are types of Fallen Angels) before she closes the door. Fortunately, the two Fallen Angels decide to leave after Samson reasoned with them.

Two days of typical restaurant management and unimportant slice-of-life stuff later, and Master Attendant scrapes enough currency to begin construction on the Dine-and-Dash room. During the two days, I notice the Food Souls' roles in managing the restaurant change frequently. For instance, instead of Milk, Black Tea, Crepe, and Tom Yum going out for ingredients yesterday, Hawthorne, Brownie, and Sandwich did that while the others take care of the restaurant and keep an eye on me. Then, after a few hours, their roles change and stays that way for the rest of the day. And it goes like that the day before that too. I remember at one point, when I was watching them work in the kitchen, I heard Akira say, "I've never seen a Master Attendant do that before." He replied, "I didn't want things to become repetitive for the Food Souls, so I let them do different jobs. Otherwise, they might get tired of it." "Seriously?" Akira remarked. "Do you honestly think that Food Souls are going to be like that? Wow. You really don't know much about them." "Then again," Samson added, "I don't have an Ice Arena, like what you mentioned, so that might be a good reason why I change their jobs like that." He does have a point; Food Souls have stamina which can only be used when working in the restaurant. Once the stamina runs out, they'll be fatigued, meaning they're unable to work anymore, but they can still fight Fallen Angels. In the game, their energy can be recharged by putting them in the Attendant's Ice Arena, but since we don't have one yet, I think changing their jobs simultaneously like that might be an interesting way to save energy for the Food Souls. Also, I wonder if the Food Souls' stamina regenerates on its own by resting or keeping an eye on me. Although it doesn't work like that in the game, it might be working in here. But, I could be wrong. Rice steps into the kitchen with a smile. "Master Attendant," she beamed. "Business is, booming.… We'll be able to, build the arena, in no time...!" Oh, yeah, I forgot to mention: During those two days, Brownie and Black Tea explain to the others about my name, so they're not calling me "Maolong" anymore. Feels weird, but I don't mind.

The next day is slightly different from the usual. A team of construction workers from probably some local company show up early in the morning to have some discussion with Samson about building the new place. I'm not really interested in what they're talking about, but after twenty minutes, they begin construction. Meanwhile, it's still business as usual for the restaurant. Since nothing much has happened in the last few days, I just spend most of the time either interacting with the Food Souls or sleeping on the couch. Of course, during the day when those guys are working on the construction of the room, I decide to sit on one of the tables of the dining room and watch them like a cat would. Looking through the window, I notice that some of the workers are Food Souls and elves, while the rest are humans. They don't seem aware that I'm watching them; they're really focused on their job.

Hawthorne's voice said, "Hey, Danny RPG." I turn around; there are two customers behind her. She asked, "Is it alright if these two sit in that table?" "_Sure,"_ I replied. I get off the table and head to the living room. Crepe is sitting on the couch, reading a book, most likely from the nearby shelf. I look at the stairs. After all these days, I haven't thought about exploring what's up there, weirdly enough. I climb up the stairs, being careful of my steps. It's easier doing it as a human.

Looking at the hallway in front of me, there are some doors on the left and on the right. I open the first door on my left. It's a bedroom not too different from the room that I woke up in when I was brought to Glorywest Grill. Only, there are two beds instead of one. They smell faintly of Black Tea and Milk's scents combined. Are they roommates in this place? Knowing the fandom, that's a valid reason to ship them. I can tell at least one person who's reading this might be getting giddy from that statement. Believe me, so am I. I'm just doing it secretly, so don't tell anyone living in the Glorywest Grill. Of course, it's not like they're going to find out since none of them are likely able to break the fourth wall. I close the door and check the one behind me. It looks the same as the previous room, but with the scent of Samson and Rice. The rest of the bedrooms have one bed each, which either have the scent of a particular character (Crepe, Tom, and/or now Brownie) or no scent at all. However, one of the rooms, instead of a bedroom, is an office, which I assume is where Samson works at besides the kitchen. There is a staircase at the end of the hall near the office, which I'm guessing leads to the attic.

I walk up the stairs and open the door at the end of it. The room is directly below the triangular roofs of the restaurant. There are a few crates which are covered by white sheets. Since the place is relatively new, there isn't much dust gathering. There are three small windows in the room, overlooking different parts of Gloriville. It's nice and quiet, admittedly. Pretty cozy too. I think I found my own bedroom in this place. But, for now, it's probably best to head back downstairs before someone notices that I'm gone.

"Danny RPG?" Brownie's voice called out.

Too late. Oh, well.

I head back downstairs and head to the stairs leading to the living room. Looking at the room below from the bannister, I reply, "_I'm up here." _ "Ah, there you are," Brownie said. "I was wondering where you went." I shrug at his statement. He asked, "What were you doing up there?" _"__I got curious,__"_ I answered in my now-typical dragon speak.

Later that night, I eat a plate of crispy pork. After helping Brownie and Rice clean up the restaurant, I head upstairs to the attic. On my way through the hall, Tom asked, "Where are you going, Danny? Don't you usually sleep downstairs?" I point to the stairs leading to the attic. "Oh, I see," Tom interpreted. "You're going to sleep up there, right?" I nod. "Well," he smiled, "Good night." _"__Good night, Tom,"_ I said in response.


	5. Chapter 5: The Butler and the Dragon

_**It's been my first week,**_ and I've adapted to living my life as a dragon pretty well. Wait, is it a week? Let me think…. Okay, so it's been one day and one night for the first two chapters … I think I spent, like, one or two days for chapter three, and … uh, I think three days passed for the previous chapter…. Okay, so it's _close_ to being a week, but I'm handling it better than I thought I would. We're all meeting in the kitchen, and Hawthorne Ball is holding me, so I wouldn't be left out. Samson instructed, "The team and I are heading to Parisel to clear some Fallen Angels and to get some writing supplies for Danny RPG. Brownie and Sandwich, you two serve the customers. Hawthorne and Rice, you cook the food. In the meantime, Rice is in charge. And Danny, don't pull any stunts while we're gone."

The main door to the restaurant opens. Akira enters the kitchen. "Oh, hey," she said, "you guys ready to head out?" "Yep," Samson replied, "I just told Danny RPG and the Food Souls what to do." Black Tea added, "Let's go complete our duties without fail." I stay in the kitchen, wanting to help the others out. To put it simply for today, Brownie does the cooking, Hawthorne and Sandwich serve the customers, and I try to help him out with the cooking. So far, Brownie is doing a pretty good job cooking foods like french fries, crispy pork, steamed cod, braised lamb, and a few other recipes. Though, after three hours, I check on him and see that he is starting to lose steam. The guy wipes his sweat off his brow, saying, "In this scene, I lose my job as the butler." Hired then fired on the first day? Not gonna happen. I climb onto the counter next to the stove and near the butler. He asked, "Is there something you'd like to say, Danny RPG?" He hands me his notepad and pen. I wrote _Maybe I can help. Just tell me what to do._ He answered, "Thank you. I suppose some help would be appreciated. Can you slice those vegetables for me, please? Also, keep in mind that the potatoes are going to be put into the fryers." S_ure thing, Brownie_. _Though, can you carry me to that island? I can't fly. Also, I think your beef is starting to overcook._ I show my writing to Brownie. To his surprise, he checks on the beef that is cooking on the pan near me. He flips it over. "On the contrary," he said, "that part of the beef is cooked fine. And it is strange that although you have wings, you can't fly. But, here." He picks me up and puts me on the counter in front of the stove where some tomatoes, mushrooms, and vegetables are neatly placed next to a cutting board with a knife. I give the Food Soul a thumbs-up with a you-got-it-boss look, and I start cutting right away. As I'm cutting a tomato into decent slices, I thought, _Isn't it weird that even though tomatoes are a type of fruit, people think they're vegetables? Pretty ironic, ain't it? –_ I start peeling a potato before slicing it – _I wonder how many ways there are to cook and/or fry a potato._ I get lost in my thoughts for a few minutes and Brownie asked, "You are done already? You are really quick"

I get out of my train of thoughts and realize that I had finished chopping the tomatoes and vegetables into slices. He adds a few plates of food onto the island and Sandwich enters the kitchen with some dirty plates. He puts them on the sink, the same sink on another counter which I had used when I pulled that stunt. Maybe I could wash the dishes again. I call out Brownie's name. After getting his attention, I point at myself, then the pile of dishes in the sink. Sandwich takes the plates from the island and heads to the dining area. Brownie interpreted, "Do you want to help with the dishes?" I nod. "Okay," he replied. "I will assist you from time to time." "_Right,"_ I … am not sure what noise did I make. Even after a week, I still struggle to come up with adverbs for my dragon speak. Y'know what? I'll just say it was a chirp of some sort. That'll make it easier, right? (Please let me know if you got better suggestions for what kind of noises does a cat-sized dragon make!)

"Danny?" Rice asked. "Are you … okay…? You're, spacing out…." I was? My bad. I clear my throat awkwardly. I walk to the edge of the island and calculate the distance between me and the sink. I walk back to the center, then run to the edge. I make a leap of faith. For a second, everything felt like it's going slow motion. I think I'm gonna make it…!

As I make the leap, my wings catch air, instinctively unfolding them. I glide gracefully across the gap, but I clumsily landed into the sink, crashing into the plates that are placed in there. Luckily, nothing broke and my wings are still fine. The Food Souls who witnessed my awesomeness winced at my landing. I turn on the faucet and start scrubbing the plates.

Hours pass and so far, there hasn't been any Fallen Angels yet. The back door opens and Samson with his team of Food Souls enter the kitchen. At the same time, the restaurant reaches it closing hours. I dry my hands and jump onto the island. The group is carrying these bags filled with ingredients and other resources. Samson is also carrying a small grocery bag, which I'm not sure what it is, but it doesn't seem to be used for leveling up or for cooking. He greeted, "Hey, guys." Brownie replied, "Welcome back, Master Attendant. I shall prepare some hot tea for you." They put the bags on the island. I step back to give them room. I take a look into the small bag and take its contents out. Inside, there are notepads, fountain pens, charcoal pencils, and a kneadable eraser the size of the palm of my hand. I figure out they're for me. I put them back into the bag. Rice smiled. "With … this much ingredients … the house will be … stocked for the next few days…."

Later that night, I head upstairs to the attic. Shortly after entering the room, Samson puts the small bag near one of the crates. He opens a nearby crate near the window on my left with a crowbar. He pulls out a blanket from it. He said, "Since you decided that this would be your room, I figured you need something soft to sleep on." He places the blanket near the ground. He added, "We wanted to buy a dog bed from a nearby pet shop, but since we had so much stuff on our hands, we decided to get that tomorrow. I take a pen and a notepad out. I wrote on the first page _Thank you, for everything. It really means a lot to me._ He responded, "My pleasure, Danny RPG." He pats me on the scalp and leaves the room.

In the following morning, I wonder if there is a place for me to put the pens away aside from the bag. I pick up one of the fountain pens. Suddenly it disappears from my hand. By disappearing, I mean it glitched all of a sudden and vanished in a second. "_Whoa!"_ I exclaimed. _"__How the hell did I do that__?!"_ Is there a way for me bring it back from wherever it ended up in? As soon as I thought that, the pen reappears onto my hand. Do I have some sort of inventory? That's so weird! But at the same time, it's really cool that I can do that. I take a pen and the notepad that I used last night and put them into my newfound Inventory. I leave the rest of the items in the bag. I head on downstairs for work and for breakfast. When I enter the living room, Master Attendant enters the hall with the storage closets and the summoning machine. If I remember correctly, I think one of the missions from the twenty-day thing was to summon a few Food Souls. I follow him.

On the way there, Samson looks at me and asked, "Huh? Oh, good morning, Danny RPG. Ready to summon a few more Food Souls?" I nod. I wonder who'll we get this time? He opens the door to the closet with the Soul Embers, which to my surprise, are the size of large marbles. He picks up a sack full of them and carries it to the machine. I follow along as he puts the Embers in the canister. I try reaching for the lever, but it's too high for size. Samson chuckles at this and pulls the lever for me. The rings spin, the machine generates a strong gust that nearly knocks me off my paws, and a silhouette materializes. The wind dies down and the figure is revealed to be a white-haired Food Soul with a blue dress that reveals most of her breasts and has a white bird of prey (most likely a gyrfalcon or a gray hawk) perched on her shoulder. She looks at Samson with her icy blue eyes. I know immediately who they are. The Food Soul is Vodka and her gyrfalcon is Andre. She asked in a Russian accent, "Are you cooking, Attendant?" Samson, nervous by her appearance and presence, stammered, "N-not right now; I haven't opened the restaurant yet. But, welcome to the Glorywest Grill." Vodka went on, "Okay, Andre needs a clean and tidy living environment. You must be attentive. As for me, all I need is alcohol." Yeah, I was pretty unsettled by her chest and how revealing her outfit is, but I'm pretty much used to it now. _Damn _fanservice. Her shoulders are covered by some kind of harness that matches the rest of her outfit. Along with it are these necklaces that are quite stylish around her neck. She's wearing long white stocking and black pumps. Oh, yeah, she also wears a hat.

Andre looks at me and blinks. I swallow my saliva silently; I hope I don't get into conflict with these two. Vodka is a Super Rare Magic Soul with the ability to silence her enemies by sending Andre to attack them. She can also freeze them for a few seconds. I feel physically cold just by seeing that badass duo. Her skill is linked with B-52, and for some reason she activates the linked skill of a pair of twin Food Souls known Double Scoop. The developers didn't really explain that one yet, and I'm not sure they will. Then again, I haven't read Double Scoop's bio, so it's likely that part of the wiki might explain it. But, since I'm in an entirely different universe with no Internet access, there's nothing I can do about that. Vodka realizes what Andre is looking at and asked, "What is that creature standing next to you. Is it some kind of pet?" Yeah, sure, let's go with that. Samson answered, "Actually, she's not, but she lives with us. She's a dragon and her name is Danny RPG." Vodka is intrigued by this. "A dragon. Do dragons not exist in those books that humans write?" He replied, "They do, so it's entirely new for us to see real life dragon that isn't exactly a lizard. Anyway, there's one more Food Soul I've got to summon."

He pulls the level again, and this time, a strong, manly, scantily clad Food Soul with very long green hair and bright green eyes gets summoned. He's … wearing nothing but a green vest and white shorts with a loin cloth…. He also has a lengthy matching bandana around his forehead. And there are two Chinese bamboo rats perching on his shoulders. My jaw drops to the floor as soon as I see him. How the hell –?! Damn, Samson must be very lucky! This guy is Bamboo Rice, and he is an Ultra Rare Strength Soul, which is very difficult to get, since Ultra Rares are rarely summoned. You'll get a much higher chance of getting URs by participating in events. Even so, it's not exactly easy.

The bright-eyed Food Soul wields a machete, and he has scars all over his body. He boisterously asked with an eager smile, "What are you?! An elephant? A peacock? You're a human, right?!" Surprised by Bamboo Rice, Samson replied, "Yes." He exclaimed, "Wow! So rare! It's nice to meet you! This is Little Ah and Big Ah." He briefly points at the two bamboo rats perched on his shoulder as he said that.

He looks at me. His eyes are just filled with wonder. "Wow! What are you?! Some kind of lizard? No, wait, you're a dragon! I thought you only exist in those books humans like to write! My name is Bamboo Rice." I take the pen and notepad out of my Inventory. _Danny RPG,_ I wrote. _Nice to meet you._ I show it to Bambri (that's what the fandom calls him sometimes). He picks up the notepad, reads it, and gives it back to me. The items glitch from existence. Samson asked, "How did you do that?" I shrug. Hell if I know, dude. I just found out twelve hours ago.


	6. Chapter 6: I Did Not See That Coming!

"_**Okay, so far, you have**_ collected four hundred Tips, earned fifteen thousand Gold – and spent five thousand of it upgrading your restaurant – you fought some Fallens in Parisel ten times, served about a hundred and fifty customers in a week, fought and defeated two Dine-and-Dash customers, and you've leveled your Food Souls up by ten. Good job, Samson," Akira listed. "Now, so far, you need to complete two delivery orders, complete three Explorations, obtain five spirits from the Catacombs, get past a total of ten levels in the Catacombs, and summon three more Food Souls. Keep in mind that you can summon more than one of the same Food Soul, but they'll be turned to Shards for your corresponding Food Soul, which can be used to ascend them." Samson asked, "Is there anything else I need to learn about Soul Shards?" Akira replied, "Yes, Food Souls can only be ascended up to five times, and you can use any excess Shards to convert them into Shard for other Food Souls. There are more missions to take care of, but I'll list them later. For now, deal with the ones I assigned you if you want to directly summon the second Food Soul. You'll also get rewards for completing your missions. They'll be sent to you shortly."

Akira leaves the restaurant, and Samson instructs his Food Souls on what to do. He also tells the two new Food Souls some of the rules of living in this restaurant, which is mostly just some common sense regarding self-care, keeping the peace, doing work when instructed to, and so on. Since I worked hard on helping Brownie yesterday, I got instructed on helping Vodka and Bamboo Rice take care of their animal companions. Also, Hawthorne will be accompanying me in case anything goes wrong.

While Rice and the other Food Souls are working, we hang out in the living room. I ask Bambri how does he care for his bamboo rats. He explained, "Big Ah and Little Ah are Chinese bamboo rats, and not unlike other rats, they can develop health issues if not cared for properly. Of course, since they're summoned with me, their life span is endless like a Food Soul. Although Big Ah and Little Ah are playful and great companions, they're also mischievous so I have keep an eye them and make sure they don't cause a lot of trouble. You might think that I put them in a wire cage, but I'm not that kind of guy; no, I let them roam freely while supervising them. Like other rats, they like to chew on things, so I carry pieces of bamboo and wood around in case if they need to gnaw or scratch on something."

I asked _What about Andre, Vodka? How do you care for him?_ Vodka answered, "Andre is a gyrfalcon. Like all birds, he needs a clean and tidy environment for Andre to live in. He likes to feed on rodents and small animals, but he's not going to bother eating other people's pets such as Bamboo Rice's rats. I often let him fly, so from time to time, Attendant needs to let him out so he could get the exercise he requires to be healthy."

There is a sudden commotion in the kitchen. Sounds like another Dine-and-Dash customer. We take a peek from the door with the _STAFF ONLY_ sign. A disgruntled skeleton (yes, there are skeletons as NPCs in the game) is mutating into another Bulimia. It is a nasty sight; I almost retch at it. Meanwhile, Sandwich is comforting a trembling and probably crying Rice. The Food Souls and I get into the dining room to face the Fallen Angel head-on. Bambri asked with a tone of determination, "Ah, do you want to fight? I will not lose." Vodka added, "Even if I haven't been here for very long, I shall protect everything behind me."

Bulimia does the first move, but Bambri counters it with a defensive counterattack using his forearms. The Bulimia fights back, and is just about to stuff Bambri's face with whatever is in her plate, but Big Ah and Little Ah crawl up to her and bite repeatedly all over her. The pain causes her to shriek and drop her item, which clatters on the floor. The bamboo rats jump off her and onto Bambri's arms and climb up to his shoulders. Immediately, Vodka yelled, "Be silent!" and sends Andre to stun the Fallen Angel, freezing her instantly. The ice immediately dissipates and the Fallen is stunned. Hawthorne performs the finishing move with her attack, Rock Candy Flame, swinging her weapon at the Fallen, dealing critical damage. The Bulimia faints and starts dissipating. I look around. There's no one here but us Food Souls (and a dragon).

A crash suddenly occurs. The team of construction workers that are building the Dine-and-Dash hall bust a hole in one of the walls. A Food Soul, a Tempura, working on it yelled, "Don't worry, your Master Attendant gave us permission to do this!" Regardless, it's still business as usual. After thirty minutes of cleaning, we reopen the restaurant, two hours pass smoothly, and Samson and his team of Food Souls come back with supplies for Andre, the Chinese bamboo rats, and me. The rest of the day goes by normally. Master Attendant and his Food Souls come back and Rice greeted, "Master Attendant, you've … returned…. I'll go … put on a kettle … for you…." The Food Souls working in the kitchen and the dining area switch places with the team, allowing them to rest for a while.

Despite that, Bambri, his pets, and I help Brownie, Sandwich, and Samson with the cooking, while the rest of us serve the customers and regain some energy from going out. It's pretty straightforward on what to do; wait to receive orders from a customer, cook the food, and get it ready. Surprisingly, Bambri is really good at cooking. He might be wild, but he's a hell of a sophisticated chef when it comes to cooking. Rice comes into the kitchen and checks on us.

I suddenly remember something. I run up to her and wrote, _I just remembered something. Do you remember that time when you went out to look for ingredients and made Master Attendant worried sick?_ Rice answered, "Worried sick…? Yes … I remember…." I added _While you were in the forest with Samson, did you encounter a strange hooded man and possibly an evil lobster guy? _She looks confused. "No…?" Now I'm confused too; that should have happened since it's part of the game's main story. I cross out what I wrote and scribbled awkwardly _Oh, never mind then. I guess it's a false alarm. Well, shit._ "Okay…." Rice said, wincing slightly at my language. She then picks up the plates that are ready to serve and walks to the dining area. Strange, why didn't that happened?

Later that night, as we're sleeping, I hear something crashing downstairs. I wake up from a decent rest and get out of the bed that Samson bought for me. Whoa, I can see everything in this room. The outlines of every object are shown in a dark neon red while the rest is in a darker tone (almost black), much like the very beginning of _Beastars_ when Tem was in that classroom before that predator broke in and ate him. (If you've seen the first episode of _Beastars_, you'd know what I'm talking about. If not, think of my newfound dark vision thing as a sci-fi/cyberpunk thing.) The only exception to this is where the moonlight shining on through the windows and through the light itself. It's creating a weird contrast that oddly works, but I don't mind it. I head to the stairs leading to the living room, but I don't go down there. I hear footsteps in the dining area. They're getting louder. I decide to watch from above, peering through the bannister. The _STAFF ONLY_ door opens. Two hooded people enter the room. Judging by their appearance, I think they're both male. I hear one of them whisper, "It should be here somewhere." The second person asked quietly, "What do you think the boss is going to do when we give that thing to them?"

"Who knows. For now, we focus on finding that dragon." I silently head to Black Tea and Milk's room and open their door. I close the door silently so the intruders wouldn't hear me and the Food Souls. I reach for her face and wake her up. As soon as she sleepily opens her eyes, I do the same with Black Tea. Milk turns on the lamp on her nightstand and asked, "Danny? What are you doing here?" I immediately scribble _INTRUDER ALERT! TWO BOGEYS DOWNSTAIRS!_ on my notepad and show it to Milk. Black Tea asked, "What's going on?" She answered with an alert look, "There are two intruders in the restaurant. We have to alert Master Attendant." Black Tea added, "Right. I'll take care of the enemies while you warn him." Milk nods in agreement.

Black Tea and I sneak to the bannister as Milk stealthily walks to Samson and Rice's room. She grabs hold of her pistols and remove them from their holsters. Black Tea fires once at the floor, and the bullet ricochets – a warning shot that she'll shoot the hooded men if they don't leave. One of the men turn on the light; Milk picks up the speed and knocks urgently on the door before opening it. Black Tea threatens, "You have one minute to leave." One of the men yells, "Go, go!" and they rush up the stairs. Being the smart but occasionally indiscreet teenager that I am, I run to the intruders and attack in a similar fashion to how Bambri's rats fought that Fallen Angel. The man struggles, but manages to grab hold of me. I hear the pistols cock and Black Tea immediately fires at him, with the bullets somehow missing me. The two bullets pierce his shoulder and solar plexus, knocking him back and letting go of me. The second figure dodges the first, making sure he doesn't fall down the stairs with him. I feel something burning from my chest, surging to my throat. "_Be silent!"_ a voice screamed. Whatever was going on in me fades right away. Andre swoops in with Vodka's ice magic and knocks the hooded men off their feet. They stumble back up and the second one uttered, "Let's get out here." They flee from the restaurant as I hiss, "_And stay out, cunts!"_ and give them the finger, much to Andre's surprise.


	7. Chapter 7: Sauté and Flambé

_**I wake up early in**_ the morning and head downstairs. Since we've had a rough night, I think it would be nice if I make some breakfast for Master Attendant and probably his Food Souls. I know they don't need to eat, but still, that doesn't stop me from wanting to cook. Not only that, they've given me a place to stay when I could have been left for dead in the Forest. Although I've already thanked Samson for his generosity, I feel like it's not enough. I know I'm not supposed to get any ideas (like the stunt from Chapter 2), but I'm sure trying to cook as a dragon isn't crazy as it sounds. Though, now that I've brought it up, maybe I should have let my Dad teach me how to make an omelet when I was still in Texas. Oh, well. I reckon there's something in the cookbooks that I can make.

I climb on the bookshelf and read the spines of the books. There's one on how to bake some delicious pastries, but that's not what I'm looking for. I notice that a lot of books have titles that imply they're fantasy and/or mystery books. About three or four of them appear to be realistic fiction. After some browsing, I find a hardcover book that says _Food for the Food Souls_. I pull it out and drop it to the floor while clinging onto the shelf; I wouldn't want to fall, would I? Of course, by dropping the book, I meant that I was careful not make a thud loud enough to wake the others. Regardless, it was pretty loud. I decide to look at some of the pages. They're recipes on how to cook food for Food Souls and how is it used to strengthen the bond between the Attendant and the Food Souls. Some of the pages include tips on using certain materials to boost the strength of Food Souls. I think this'll come in handy.

I find a recipe on scrambled eggs with tomatoes, a few vegetables, seasoning, and cheese. And it looks like I can add small amounts of Beginner's Seasoning (used to level the Food Souls' skills up) to this recipe if I want to. I wonder if I can do it successfully on the first try; the instructions seem pretty detailed and clear. I write the page number on my notepad, so I wouldn't forget. I hear footsteps coming down the stairs, which reveal to be Brownie's. In another page, I write _Good morning, Brownie. What's gotten you out of bed early?_ Brownie crouches down, so I could hand the notepad to him. After reading it, he gives it back to me and replied, "A noise woke me up, so I came down here to investigate. What are you doing, miss Danny?" He looks at the book and he picks it up as he stands up. After skimming a few pages, he asked, "Do you want to cook something?" I show him the page number on my notepad as I nod to Brownie's question.

We then walk into the kitchen. Brownie explained as he sets the book on the counter not far from the stove, "Before getting started, we have to set up and prepare the ingredients. According to a dear friend of mine, this would be an example of _mise en place_, which translates to 'putting in place' or 'everything in its place'." He takes out the ingredients from the cabinets and took a few eggs and a piece of cheddar cheese out of a large fridge that I somehow failed to mention in Chapter 2 and placed them on the island. He also takes out two clear containers full of black pepper and salt from a cupboard full of spices and seasoning (the kind used for cooking) and places it along with the rest of the ingredients. I climb on the island and take out a cutting board from a drawing below me as Brownie takes out a frying pan, also from a cupboard.

He gives me a knife and I start chopping the vegetables and tomatoes. The modest butler said, "It says here that we can add Beginner's Seasoning to this recipe. Would you like to include it along with the other ingredients?"

_Sure_, I wrote in my notepad.

"In that case, I will be right back." He leaves the kitchen. The recipe has green onions, tomatoes, and bell peppers, about a tablespoon of each, all of them chopped. As a result, it didn't take long to finish chopping the ingredients. The recipe also includes a tablespoon of cheddar cheese, but Brownie forgot to give me a cheese grater. When in doubt, improvise. Also, we're going to need more than a tablespoon if we're gonna make enough scrambled eggs to feed all of the Food Souls in this establishment. I take the piece of the cheese that he brought out of the fridge and shred it to pieces with my talons. For the cheese, my claws are sharper than they look. After some waiting, Brownie comes back with a handful of leaves, which are the Beginner's Seasoning I've mentioned before. He takes out a bowl and a mortar with a pestle from the same cupboard as the one where he took out the frying pan. As I'm doing that, I write down the reason for why I wanted to cook on my notepad, which he notices quickly. He asked, "Hm? Is there something on your mind, Danny RPG?" After I finish, which took me about three minutes, I hand it to the Food Soul. He reads and gives a small smile. "I appreciate your enthusiasm for wanting to repay Master Attendant, but you don't have to do that. Whatever it is that you need, leave it to me." I wrote, _Still, it doesn't hurt to try out my cooking skills. It's been a while since I've done something that's actually productive._

"Alright, if you insist. Let me beat the eggs, though, since the bowl is too large for you. I will let you take care of the rest."

_Sounds good to me._

The butler puts me near the stove. He then cracks the eggs open onto the bowl and beats them with a whisk until they're blended. I put half a tablespoon of butter on the frying pan that Brownie placed on one of the stove grates, and I turn the knob for the corresponding one. Orange and blue flames appear under the pan. The butter melts quickly. Brownie places the ingredients I chopped into the pan. I grab a nearby spatula so I can sauté them. The Food Soul hands me salt and black pepper. I open the cap for the pepper, and I sniff it out of curiosity. It's not a bad smell but –

"_Ac-choo!"_ I sneeze boisterously and flames come out of my mouth. Even though I covered my sneeze, the fire still manages to set the butter ablaze. Fire quickly shoots up from the frying pan. I let out a startled shriek, and Brownie picks up a metal lid and slams it on the pan before the fire burns down the kitchen. I turn the heat off. He lifts up the lid, and a huge cloud of smoke rises out. I didn't knew butter can be flammable. But then again, it's made of grease, so I guess that makes sense?

Even though the ingredients are unintentionally fire-roasted, they're not completely burned, which is a good thing. With the mortar and pestle, Brownie grinds the Beginner's Seasoning into a fine powder and mixes it along with the eggs. Then, he pours the mixture in the pan, and I turn the heat back on. I then gently pull the eggs across it as they start to set with the spatula. I continue lifting, pulling, and folding the eggs gently as it cooks until no visible liquid remains. I turn the heat off again and I season it with salt and pepper. Brownie puts the scrambled eggs on a plate and takes it to the dining area. I hear him put the chairs down from the tables. Roughly five minutes later, he comes back. We then repeat the entire cooking process for nine more times (minus the flambé incident). We also make a tenth plate for Samson, but without the Beginner's Seasoning. I decide to make a plate of eggs for myself too, but smaller and without tomatoes. Brownie asked, "Are not going to added tomatoes on your plate?" I shake my head. I've never been a fan of tomatoes except for ketchup.

By the time we're done, the other characters come downstairs to discover the savory fragrance of the scrambled eggs. Hawthorne Ball smiled. "It smells delicious. What have you been cooking, Brownie?" He replied, "Well, it was Danny RPG's idea. We made scrambled eggs for all of you. She wanted to thank you and the others for letting her live here." Hawthorne smiled. "You're very welcome, Danny!" Aw, shucks. It's an honor to be here. Bamboo Rice uttered with a smile, "Impressive, I didn't know that she can cook." Brownie replied, "I didn't knew that either until we started cooking. Though, she did accidentally start a grease fire, but it was taken care of quickly." Samson responded, "Oh, dear, you oughtta be more careful, Danny. I'm relieved you didn't burn down the kitchen." I nod in agreement. _Same, dude,_ I thought.

After that delightful breakfast and washing all our dishes that were used (I think Sandwich got the plate with the fire-roasted ingredients), Olivia visits the Glorywest Grill with her Food Soul Tiramisu. I hide from under one of the tables so I wouldn't be sighted by Olivia. She is one of the main characters of the game's main story and is the captain of Squad 601 in the Skeleton Guild of Chefs. Those who know her well says that she is like an older sister to them. But, she can be quite cold to people that she doesn't like. She greeted, "Good morning, Samson. I've heard you managed to bring Rice back." Samson replied, "Yes, and would you like anything to eat?"

"No thanks, I already ate. But, that's not why I'm here. I'm here because I need to deliver some news to you."

"What news?"

"Due to Fallen Angels, Hilenna has become the hub for dispatching Fallen Angels to surrounding areas! However, we're unable to send support in a timely manner. So, the Guild President has decided to deploy additional manpower and let qualified restaurants become guild branches. This way, everyone from the Guild can start from here before carrying out missions further away."

"So, you're saying that my restaurant is also…?"

"You could sound at least a _bit_ grateful."

"I thought you wanted me to become a Cooking Attendant, but instead you want to commandeer my restaurant?"

"Don't give me that expression. You'll be able to lead other Attendants. This is an opportunity other people would beg for."

"So far, this sounds like more work for me…."

Tiramisu replied, "Perhaps I should mention that, if you agree to this, you'll be able to petition for activity funds and share thirty percent of the reward for each completed mission."

"I can make that much?!" Samson exclaimed. "Ahem, I mean if I do this, can Ichi become a Cooking Attendant?"

"Ichi?"

"Oh, I forgot to mention him. He helped us stay out of a sticky situation recently and managed to find Rice, so I've invited him to this restaurant. Though, he hasn't shown up yet because he had to run a few errands in Parisel." The restaurant door opens, and a white-haired man in a black outfit enters the place. I recognize him as Ichi from _Food Fantasy_'s main story.

"Hey, Samson. What's up?" Samson greeted, "Hi, Ichi. This is Olivia from the Chef's Guild. I was just talking about you." "Really?" he replied. "Well, it's great to meet you, Olivia. Now that I took care of those errands in the market in Parisel, I decided to come here to join the Chef's Guild and exterminate Fallen Angels while protecting civilians." Olivia asked, "I can see that you have spirit, but how are your abilities?" Samson answered, "As far as his cooking skills go, he's pretty good! If I was to run a Guild branch, he would be my first choice for a recruit." Olivia informed, "Your optimism towards him is … intriguing. However, if he wants to enter the Guild, he'll need to go through a trial." Ichi is excited by this comment; he exclaimed, "Ooh, what do I need to do?!" "Battle," she answered. "Powerful Fallen Angels have been lurking around the Secret Forest and threatening residents. Exterminate them and prove your strength."

"Got it! Leave it to me!"

After a while, Olivia, Ichi, and Tiramisu leave the Glorywest Grill, and Samson opens the restaurant. If you're wondering why I hide from characters like Olivia and Ichi, it's because I don't want to screw things up when the game's main story is involved. So, whenever a main character is present (with the exception of Samson and Rice), I stay out of it and watch from a safe distance. But, if Master Attendant or Rice end up mentioning me to Olivia, Mithra, and/or possibly a few other characters in the main story … welp, I guess I wouldn't have any other choice but to show and introduce myself.

I check on the Dine-and-Dash hall. It looks like the team of construction workers are almost done with it. It's funny how a busy team of workers manage to build a room without disturbing the peace of the customers during the restaurant's open hours. Quite frankly, I'm impressed by that and by how well done they've made the new room. They're almost done, by the way; a few workers here and there are inside the restaurant, adding final touches to the place. The place is surprising spacious and it has the door leading to the dining hall, which was part of the wall where the Tempura punched a hole in. The new room is behind the women's bathroom and part of the living room. With this much space, the Food Souls don't need to hold back their strength as much as they needed to in the dining room. Of course, they've kept the window that is near the door, so it looks like the customers would end up having their meals and a show.

Nothing exciting happens today, and the constructions workers have finished building the new room, so we're gonna fast forward to the next morning. Yay!~ Ahem, okay, so far, Bambri and Tom Yum are the first ones to try it out. In a nutshell, Tom is honing his boxing and hand-to-hand combat skill while Bambri and his rats train with his machete. I'm guessing the two decided to turn the Dine-and-Dash hall into a training arena, which isn't a bad idea. But, we're gonna need stuff like punching bags, targets, and training dummies if we're gonna make it work. Despite that, the two don't seem to mind.

Meanwhile, Samson heads to the summoning room. I decide to follow him. I wonder who'll we get this time. He checks the amount of Soul Embers there are in the canister, and pulls the switch. I smile with excitement, just eager to see what new Food Soul we'll get. Through the blinding white light, a figure appears on the platform. My smile disappears and my wings lower. Oh, dear….

Samson greeted nervously, "Uuum…. Hi, I-I'm the Master Attendant of this place…." I could hear him quietly gulp his saliva nervously.

"Attendant? That sounded really terrific." – the Food Souls steps down from the platform – "So, then let Big Sister accompany you."

"_AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH!"_ I impersonate the boy from _Home Alone_ and make a break for it. Looking back, I could glimpse that the Food Soul is surprised and confused by this. I look forward and hit the brakes, but I still bump my head at the door because of my momentum. I rub my head from the event. The Food Soul is none other than Spicy Gluten.


	8. Chapter 8: April Fools Shitpost

"**Man, those guys are working** _tirelessly. I wonder if we can give them something aside from just gold."_ I watch the construction workers through the window in the dining room of the Glorywest Grill. I got it! I'll bake a cake for them! If I can make an omelet, baking a cake will be … well, a piece of cake. Besides, with the help of someone, what's the worst that could happen?

**One Hour Later**

"Hey, Danny RPG," Hawthorne Ball said, "What are you and Sandwich baking?" Sandwich replied, "We're baking a cake for the construction workers. As a thank-you gift for their hard work." I take my notepad out of the Inventory and write _Hey, guys, I think the cake is ready._

I perch on Sandwich's shoulder and he opens the oven door. Lots of smoke is coming out of it. So much smoke, it's almost as if the cake is going to set itself on fire in a few seconds. He immediately slams it shut. I wrote to the two Food Souls, _I'm … just gonna give it a few more minutes..._


	9. Chapter 9: It Had To Be Her (And Spicy)

"_**You have a very strange**_ pet," Spicy Gluten remarked. "Not only that, it's quite unlike anything I've seen before." Samson replied, "She's a dragon. Usually, they only exist in books and movies, but, yeah, it's very strange to find one that isn't fictional. Her name is Danny RPG." Spicy asked, "What does that mean?" He answered, "I have no clue; she hasn't mentioned what it stands for." I said, "_Uh, I think I hear Bamboo Rice calling."_ I immediately get out of the room and head straight to the Dine-and-Dash room. Spicy is kinda hard to describe, especially what she's wearing. If you don't know what she looks like … it's probably best to keep it that way since she's wearing the uncensored version. She also has this belt around her neck; what is up with that? Her hair and her eyes are orange like fire, and she also has these antennae on her scalp that's most likely made out of actual spicy gluten. Her strong character and appearance makes those around her nervous, which might come in handy against enemies. Hell, it's terrifying _me_! According to her bio, she's possessive, her height is 167 centimeters (which I think is around five feet and four inches), and she enjoys training and charming those around her. Spicy is also a Strength Soul with the ability to charm her enemies for a few seconds in the game.

In the training arena, Bambri and Tom Yum are sparring using hand-to-hand combat. They're currently practicing boxing techniques until they see me. "Hey, Danny," Bambri greeted. "Are you okay? You look like you've seen a Spectra." I replied with my notepad, _I wish it was a Spectra. It's the new Food Soul. I don't know what's scarier, her appearance or her personality._ Bambri, his rats, and Tom look worried. Tom stated, "I'm sure she can't be scarier than an Uke Mochi, right?" Bambri added, "Yeah, maybe she's not so bad once you get to know her." Buddy, you have no idea.

I added _She's a very seductive dominatrix. If she tries to be flirty or some shit, DO NOT FALL FOR HER!_ The door suddenly opens. To my relief, it's Rice. "Good … morning…." she greeted. "So, what are you … guys doing…?" I scribbled _Sparring; I was just about to ask if they could teach me how to fight._ After reading that, the scantily-clad Strength Soul replied, "Actually, she was telling us about the new Food Soul. She's terrified of her. Speaking of, do you know her?" I replied, _No, I know _of _her. I heard about her once in the forest. She seems really creepy, and now that I've met her in person, she's nightmarish._ I show the notepad to the Food Souls; they seem impressed by what I wrote.

"_Eeeeek!"_ a muffled voice shrieked from the dining room. It was Crepe. "_What are you WEARING?! You are _not _going to serve customers in that outfit, young lady! You're just like Bamboo Rice!"_ – ("Huh?" Bambri asked.) – "_Get the hell out of those clothes right now!"_ Spicy's muffled voice teased, "_My, aren't you excited?~"_

"_That's not what I meant, pervert!"_

"Uh," Tom commented nervously, "I think sparring sounds like a good idea, Danny RPG." I nod in agreement. _Alright,_ I wrote to Tom, _where do we start?_ He asked, "How much do you know about fighting?"

_Nothing at all; can you teach me how to fight?_

"How to fight? Sure. Let's start from the beginning. We'll try melee attacks." After some more indistinct chastising from Crepe, Spicy enters the room. "I assume this is the training arena. Or is this another place for the Food Souls to hang out?" Everyone in the room stares at Spicy with a _WHAT THE HELL IS THAT?_ look. Bambri, however, is unfazed by her and is instead confused by everyone else's reactions. I guess it makes sense since he doesn't know what fashion is.

"So, that's where the dragon ran off to." Unenthusiastically, I let out a forced smile. "_Yep, that's me."_ Spicy gives me a strange look and asks Rice, "Is the pet smiling?" Rice answered, "I … don't know…. Maybe…?" An awkward silence fills the air, until Master Attendant breaks it. He clears his throat. "So, this is the Dine and Dash hall, though I'm guessing you guys decided to use it as a place for training." Bambri asked, "Where else could we train?" Tom added, "Yeah, my fists are getting lonely. All of a sudden, they really want to fight. Plus, Danny RPG wanted to train." I nod. "That's not a bad idea," Samson said, "though I have some tasks for you guys before we get to do that. Crepe and Brownie will head to the market in Hilenna to buy clothes for Bamboo Rice and Spicy Gluten. Spicy, Bamboo, would you like to join them?" Bambri replied, "I've never been to a human market before. So, sure, I'd like to check it out." Master Attendant added, "The rest of us will stay and take care of the restaurant." As much as I want to join Crepe's group (because I've never been outside of the restaurant), I decide to say nothing about it.

The restaurant opens shortly after the awkward conversation. Crepe, Brownie, and the two scantily-clad Food Souls head out to Parisel with the mission to buy new clothes. With Crepe being a fashion guru and the butler being an expert in modesty, Bambri and Spicy are probably going to have an interesting time. Not to mention, bystanders will probably be surprised by the seemingly unlikely encounter. Or, maybe they'll brush it off as something normal since they're Food Souls. Anyways, back to the restaurant.

We open the Glorywest Grill, which is becoming more popular by the day, which I can tell because every time I check one of the windows in the kitchen, I see a small crowd of people who are either curious or are trying to get something to eat in this place but can't because the tables are full. Also, once in a while, whenever I hang out in the dining area, I sometimes see a line of people waiting to get a table. Not unlike those restaurant simulator games like _Diner Dash_. Though, in this game, there'd be a crowd of silhouettes in front of a set of doors at the bottom of the screen, and if you tap on it, it'll tell you how many people are waiting. In _Food Fantasy_, it takes several minutes to a few hours to get food ready depending on the type of dish, its ranking, and the quantity. From what I've seen, Brownie, Rice, Bambri, Hawthorne, and Sandwich are best at cooking and managing the restaurant, which interestingly enough, Brownie and Bambri are usually not recommended to manage the restaurant due to their Stamina and lack of Restaurant Skills in the game. Even in a world I know quite well, I still learn something new every day, like the fact that you should never let a dragon and a Food Soul who doesn't know how to bake bake a cake without the help of a Master Attendant or a solemn butler.

The first customers of the day ordered the usual eggplant rolls, salads, and crispy pork, which seem to be the most popular dishes in this establishment so far. But, that's probably because the only dishes that we have available so far are crispy pork, eggplant rolls, salads, smoked salmon, mushroom soup, and pork burgers. The sides we have available are french fries, cheese bread, and fried rice cakes. Yeah, we're a very small restaurant, but our service is great. Plus, my presence seems to boost morale around here, and it tends to attract more customers. I guess I've become famous from my stunt, which had unintended consequences, but all's well that it ends well.

For the time being, I decided to be waitress so I can improve my social skills and try to adapt to situations with NPCs and the occasional Dine-and-Dasher. Milk, Black Tea, and Tom are working as waiters as well while Sandwich, Hawthorne, and Rice work in the kitchen. Samson and Vodka are making sure that customers are paying their bills and keeping an eye for Dine-and-Dash customers. With luck, Vodka and Andre's intimidating presence will discourage customers from doing any funny business. I guess that makes them the supervisors of Glorywest Grill. They're also in charge of keeping track of how much money they earn whenever a customer pays their bill.

When a skeleton and a pirate sit at one of the tables, I approach them with the question: "_Yo, may take your order?"_ They peer from the side to see a cat-sized dragon with a notepad. Of course, I forgot there's a one-sided language barrier so I repeat what I said in my notepad. The two customers read my writing, and the skeleton said, "Yeah, I'll have a plate of eggplant rolls, and my friend would like to have some smoked salmon." I write down their order on the next page. I flip back to my previous page and write _Do you guys want any sides or drinks?_ The pirate replied, "No thanks. We're good." I give them a thumbs-up, and I head to the kitchen. I give the order to Rice, who starts cooking right away. After some waiting, Rice places the dishes to floor and I drag them across the area that I was in. Milk enters the kitchen and sees what I'm doing. She asked, "Do you need help with that?" I nod in response. She picks up the two plates and I lead her to the table with the skeleton and the pirate. This gets repeated with several other NPCs; I take the orders, and Milk or Black Tea help me hand the plates to the right tables. Sometimes, I see Samson or Vodka helping us out with serving the customers to make sure that the Food Souls' that only a small fraction of their stamina is reduced rather than a large portion or all of it.

Inevitably, after a couple hours, a customer eats their meal, but refuses to pay their bill. Asshole…. As they're about to run off, Vodka's gyrfalcon blocks the door with some ice magic, and the Dine-and-Dash customer tries to fight with a giant fork with a large eyeball sticking at the end, which materialized in their hand out of nowhere. Upon seeing that, I immediately realized that we're about to fight an Uke Mochi. I yell at the Fallen Angel, "_Hey, you, crazy-ass bitch! Over here!"_ Upon doing that, I lift my tail and shake my end in front of the Dine-and-Dasher while doing the ol' "Na-na-na-na-na" thing, as silly and immature as it is. (Then again, I had to do something quick and absurd before she destroys the whole restaurant.) Impressively enough, the customer actually gets provoked by my taunting, as the Uke Mochi yelled angrily, "You little shit!" I lure her into the new room as soon as possible before she fully transforms into the Fallen's Normal form.

Uke Mochi are a type of Fallen Angel and are usually about four hundred and ten centimeters tall, which is about thirteen feet. So, this Fallen is massive, whereas Bulimia are about five and a half feet tall (the wiki says they're a hundred and sixty-seven centimeters tall). They were born from the negative energy and evil dreams of the humans, and are one of the original types of Fallens that first appeared on Tierra. While Bulimia is an Evolved Fallen Angel, this one is an Enhanced Fallen Angel. However, there are two types of Enhanced Fallens which are Normal and Special. In Uke Mochi's case, it's a Normal Enhanced Fallen while its stronger Enhanced form is Special. Yeah, it's pretty weird how an Enhanced Fallen has an Enhanced form that would be considered a Special Enhanced Fallen Angel. Just writing this is starting make me confused, hahah. So, I'll be referring the Normal Uke Mochi as its "Normal form" while referring the Special one as its "Enhanced form." That should make things easier, right? If not, there's a pretty good reason why there's a _Food Fantasy_ wiki on the Internet. It also helps to read that info in-game.

Anyway, I lure the customer to the Dine-and-Dash arena, and right as they enter the room, they fully transform into a Normal Uke Mochi, who is trying to kill me with her weapon. Vodka steps in and exclaimed, "What the hell?! How did we an Uke Mochi into this place?! Leave the dragon alone!" With Vodka's ice magic, Andre flies to the Uke Mochi and casts an ice spell onto the Fallen, which creates in a violent flurry of snow that seems to be temporarily blinding it. Black Tea enters the room and fires her dual pistols at the fiend. The attack is called Double Shots, which hits a critical part of the enemy, dealing one hundred percent of the Food Soul's ATK, as damage to the enemy with the lowest HP deals extra damage. I decide to join the fight as well. Heat surges to my throat, and I let out a jet of fire at the Uke Mochi's giant thorny tentacles that support and lift the body of the Fallen. It … barely did any damage to her. Uke Mochi hurls her giant fork at me, but I jump out of the way before it could pin me down, or worse. Vodka and Andre cast another spell, which freezes the Uke Mochi and stuns it after the ice disappeared. Black Tea declared, "It ends here." She leaps up and fires more bullets six more bullets, which fly in a straight line. They coalesce to a single spot very close to the Fallen's chest, creating a giant purple flower that literally bursts into bloom under three seconds, dealing critical damage to the enemy. The Uke Mochi faints, but hasn't dissipated. She's wounded, but not to the point of dying. Vodka glares at the Fallen Angel. "Next time, pay your bill." Breathing heavily from the fight, the Uke Mochi gets struggles to get up and replied, "Fine, you've proven your point. Here." She tosses Vodka a small pouch of Gold. She then shapeshifts back to the form of an NPC and Vodka sends Andre to make the ice that is blocking the main door of the restaurant dissipate. The Dine-and-Dash customer limps out of Glorywest Grill as everyone else stares at the event. Black Tea asks Samson, "Master Attendant, do we need to close the restaurant for now?" Samson thinks about and answers, "The damage done to the place is minimal this time thanks to the new room. I think we can continue operating the restaurant. In the meantime, why don't you and Vodka rest? You've earned it." Black Tea, seemingly not used to hear something like that replied, "Understood, Master Attendant."

After returning to our usual business for another hour, Akira enters the restaurant. She's carrying a box with the mark of the Royal Chef's Guild She looks worried. "I heard about what happened. Are you guys alright?" Rice answered, "Yes…. The battle went, better, than I thought…." Akira asked, "Still, why didn't you finish it off? It's a Master Attendant's duty to kill Fallen Angels." Vodka answered, "We were planning to, but the Fallen Angel decided to pay its bill by giving us a small pouch of gold and left the restaurant without resisting. After a fight like that, I doubt it'll cause much trouble anymore." Knowing these Food Souls, it'll take that Uke Mochi a lot of nerve to come back and cause havoc. Samson asked, "Anyways, it's been a while since you last came here. Where have you been?"

"I was monitoring other Attendants from within Hilenna and the outskirts of Parisel. I've been informed of the incident, and I've received word about some of the tasks you've accomplished, so the Royal Chef's Guild asked me to give this box to you. It contains the rewards you've earned. Complete the next several missions within the two weeks, and you'll get the next Food Soul. From what I heard, I think it's an Ultra Rare. Not sure which one, though. Could be any of them."

"Wow, really?"

"Yes, I'm sure."

"I'll definitely keep that in mind. Setting that aside, would you like to order anything from this place?"

"Yeah, I'll have a pork burger and fries."

"You got that, guys?"

Milk answered, "Yes. I'll inform the others right now."

Pretty much the rest of the day went normal; Akira left after having her meal, and by 4:30 in the afternoon, Brownie, Crepe, Bambri, and Spicy come back with arms and hands full of bags (especially Bamboo Rice and Spicy Gluten; Crepe and Brownie are holding, like, two bags or so). They got so many bags, Bambri is carrying two of them by the teeth. Brownie asked, "Good afternoon, Master Attendant. As you can see, Crepe insisted on buying a lot of clothes and accessories for these two. And I mean, a lot. Master, I am a bit concerned for our budget because of this shopping trip." Impressed, Samson replied, "Yeah, I can see that." Crepe added, "Despite that, these two simply can't serve customers or even go out in public in the clothes they're wearing. And the reason why I let them go out like this today is because these are the only clothes they have until now. Now, go change in your rooms, you two; I've seen enough of your lack of modesty."


	10. Chapter 10: Maybe Things Aren't So Bad?

_**The two Food Souls change **_halfheartedly, which is a good thing because I could use a break from the fanservice. Though, it looks like if the Food Souls are going to wear clothes like that, Black Tea, Hawthorne Ball, and Vodka could do the same.

"By the way," Brownie said, "since you guys don't have that many clothes, we bought some for all of you. They are all modest, and should be comfortable to wear. Here you go." Crepe and the butler give the rest of the bags to the other characters. As mentioned before, they're all filled with clothes in different styles and appearances; most for work in a restaurant like this while the rest are for casual days. Though, it's most likely they'll go for their default skins if they're heading out to fight Fallen Angels.

A few minutes later, Bamboo Rice and Spicy Gluten come back downstairs with the new clothes they're wearing; they don't seem to mind their new appearances. Spicy's wearing a black t-shirt with a blue image of a cat's face printed on it, a pair of shorts, and tennis shoes that go pretty well with the rest of her outfit. I'm very grateful that her tits are completely covered rather than partially like with her revealing default outfit. It's a good look; not only is it rather conservative, she also gets to show her figure, so it's a win-win for all of us. As for Bambri, he's wearing navy pants, and a beige shirt. Though, unlike Spicy, he's barefoot. Seems he's not used to wearing shoes at all.

Despite that, the two characters are handling the changes pretty well. My biggest concern, though, is that if we keep getting more waifoods like Vodka, Milk, and Spicy, this place will become a fucking Hooters in _Food Fantasy_. (I swear, I haven't been to one; I just simply heard a few things about Hooters, and that's it.)

What's a waifood, you might ask? It's a pun – a combination of the words "waifu" and "food." If you're really that unfamiliar with slang terms like this in general, a waifu (ワイフ) is a term used to refer to a fictional girl or woman (usually in anime, manga, or video-games) that one has sexual attraction to, and would even marry if the character is real. Keep in mind that (at least from what I've read in the Urban Dictionary) most Japanese speakers don't use that term and instead use the word "tsuma" (妻) to refer to somebody's real wife. The male counterpart for "waifu" is "husbando," though in _Food Fantasy's_ case, it would be "husbento," heheheh. Seriously, you guys don't know what a bento is either? Dude, get a dictionary!

Okay, setting that aside, we start the next day off with Bambri, Brownie, Vodka, and Sandwich serving the customers; Black Tea, Milk, Crepe, and Hawthorne are cooking the food; Rice and Samson are keeping an eye on us while taking care of accounting; and Spicy and Tom Yum are put in charge of keeping an eye on me again.

The Dine-and-Dash room is a large and spacious room with a wooden floor. It has roughly a few windows here and there, but I imagine they're made from a sturdy glass that doesn't break easily. There are lights on the ceiling, which is high enough for an Uke Mochi to be here. I know that because we fought an Uke Mochi recently.

Spicy asked, "The dragon. Despite what Master Attendant told me about it, it still looks like a pet to me." Tom replied, "Yeah, even though she's been with us for about a week, we're still trying to figure out whether of not she's indeed a pet. She understands what people say and tries to be like a human sometimes, though. I guess the more appropriate term for someone like Danny RPG would be an animal companion."

"Is that so? Can she do tricks?"

"I don't know. None of us asked her to do that. I don't think any of us have really thought about it. Well, except for maybe two or three customers."

"Well, let's see then. Hey, dragon, sit."

I sit down.

"Roll over."

I cringe internally at the command. I have an issue with rolling and spinning. Still, I do it anyway. Spicy said, "Jump." I'm tempted to say "How high?" but, I decided not to. I think about the height of my jump and do it. I anticipated that I would make a small hop, but to my surprise, I leap as high as a house cat would, which is six times its normal height. Upon seeing this, I almost panic from the unexpected jump, but I manage to land on my feet. The Food Souls are surprised and impressed by this. Tom said with a smile, "Whoa, I didn't knew you could jump that high." _Neither did I,_ I thought. Spicy commanded, "Alright, speak." I hesitate. Tom replied, "She can't really talk. There's a weird language barrier between her and us." "_Y-yeah, it's quite a bother,"_ I added. Spicy asked, "Well, isn't that odd?"

A commotion suddenly occurs in the dining room. Sounds like another dine-and-dash customer. Brownie and Bamboo Rice run into the room with the Fallen Angels chasing after them. In front of us are a Bloodshot, a two Squidlings, and a group Ring Teeth. Behind them is a Bulimia. The entities in front of the Bulimia are Normal Fallen Angels from the Savage Tribe. Considering they're labeled as Normal Fallens, I'm assuming they're some of the most common types of Fallen in Gloriville, along with the Fallens from the Altered Animal Tribe. The Bloodshot and Squidlings are roughly my size. Spicy chuckled, "Training time~" She grabs the handle of her whip while Brownie grabs his gun from nowhere and Bambri grabs hold of his machete. I raise my guard and hold my ground. Tom does a fighting stance to show he's not going down without a fight. He declared, "Ha, we must go all out!" "_Right,"_ the others and I replied. The Ring Teeth launch themselves towards Brownie and Tom, which the butler fights back with a blast from his cannon and Tom deals a heavy punch towards the other Fallen. A Ring Tooth approached Tom and launches its sharp teeth at the Food Soul like bullets. _What the heck?_ Since when do they do that?! Another one does the same. A third one sends itself flying, spinning with its teeth out like a living shuriken star, but Bambri deflects it with his machete, slicing the small fiend in half. I quickly notice that the projectiles that flew left an impact on the walls. Yikes, how much force do these little guys have?! Small but sharp teeth come out of the Ring Teeth that launched their projectiles quickly. How many sets of teeth do they have? Probably endless, if I have to guess. "Hmph! Despicable," Spicy scorned, killing the small Fallens swiftly with her whip. All that's left now is the Bulimia. She uses her attack, Super Full, which she dumps her food reserves to us, dealing heavy damage, but Bambri and I dodge it. I run towards the Bulimia and grab her neck, strangling her while she tries to grab hold of me. I use my tail and hind claws to resist. I quickly glimpse at Bambri and I leap off of her; my wings unfold and I land as awkward as an albatross. Bambri immediately uses his energy skill, Colorful Bamboos, which his dense hair envelops his body as he leaps into the remaining enemy and whirls like a buzzsaw, dealing forty percent of his ATK as damage to the Fallen Angel. The Bulimia screams in pain and collapses to the floor. She dissipates upon fainting.

Milk enters the room, asking, "Is everyone okay? Oh, my." I immediately run from the room to get away from Spicy. She looks at the Food Souls in front of her and starts healing their wounds. Mostly, what these guys have are scratches and abrasions, but other than that, we're pretty fine. I check on the restaurant. The damage here seems pretty minimal, thankfully. There were scraps of food on the floor here and there, one table got upturned, a few drinks got spilled (I forgot to mention this also happened in previous times), and about two plates are shattered. We spend half an hour cleaning up the restaurant again. By then, the restaurant reopens. Reluctant to spend more time with Spicy, I head to the kitchen and hide inside one of the cupboards close to the floor.

I hear Tom's voice faintly say, "Hey, Master Attendant, have you seen Danny RPG?" He answered, "I think I saw her run into the kitchen. She seems pretty anxious about something." Tom enters the kitchen. I peek out and see that he's alone. I cautiously step out and approach him. He asked, "Hey, are you alright?" I think about what to write. He sits down, and I get closer to him. I sit down too. I take out my notepad and start writing. _I'm not really alright. I'm just hiding because I don't want to be near Spicy. If I didn't do those tricks, who knows what she'd do._ Tom replied, "Yeah, even in her new clothes, she's pretty intimidating. But, don't worry. You got the rest of us. We're not gonna let some dominatrix hurt you. Besides, I think she'll only see you as a pet rather than someone with a sapient mind. Don't worry about it too much, alright?" I give him a small nod. I write _I guess you're right. Maybe I'm just delusional or paranoid, and I might be getting carried away. Now, let's get back to work._

I decide to work as a waitress again (along with Spicy while Tom work in the kitchen) which might help me get used to her presence. Besides, with the new clothes she's wearing, it makes my worries ease a lot better. At one point, a small family of three enters the restaurant and they sit at a table near a window. As I'm walking in search of a table that hasn't received orders yet, I hear a cheery little girl from the family saying, "Look, Mommy. There's the dragon! Isn't she cute?" I look at them, and I feel flattered about the compliment, rather than annoyed. I don't really know why, though. Maybe it's because of the brief conversation I had with Tom. Or maybe it's because I needed to hear something reassuring when Spicy is in the same room as me. Either way, I decide to approach them. From the girl's voice and appearance, she's probably about six years old. I put myself in a crouched position like a coiled spring, allowing me to exploit the strength of my rear legs as I leap upwards. On landing, I pull myself with my back limbs, gripping with my talons, bringing myself to a clumsy but still graceful halt. The girl looks at me with awe. "That was cool!" I write _Thank you. Now, may I take your order?_ After the family orders their food, which I wrote in my notepad, I jump back down. I'm getting the hang of my landings pretty well. I enter the kitchen and give the order to the fellas working in the kitchen. Brownie enters the kitchen, grabs two plates, and walks to a table farthest from the main entrance of the restaurant. In no more than a few minutes, Sandwich enters the kitchen. He asked, "Is the food ready for one of the tables?" Black Tea answered, "Yes, the food is ready. Take it out quickly to the Table One." "Got it," he replied. A few hours pass, and the restaurant reaches its closing hours.

As the customers are leaving, we clean up the area the NPC was in, making closing hours pretty easygoing. Once everything in the restaurant has been mopped, dusted, and cleaned up for the night, we chill out in the residential area. The restaurant closes at 7:30 pm and we get everything cleaned up between 7:45 and 8:00; Brownie, Samson, and sometimes the other Food Souls usually take care of the residential area on their own time such as right now in the evening. Of course, some of the Food Souls decide to sleep immediately after we clean up the restaurant, and others like to hang out and play a small game (mostly cards) before resting. Spicy is sitting on the couch, watching Sandwich, Bambri, Hawthorne, and Vodka (who is drinking out of a glass of wine near her) play a game of cards. Not sure if it's poker or blackjack, though. Still, I decide to watch too. Meanwhile, Brownie is dusting the furniture. As much as I want to sit in one of the chairs, I decide to muster up the courage to sit near Spicy while maintaining a distance. Spicy mutters quietly, "They really are all so boring. One, two, ugh, they're all useless."

She looks at me, but I immediately avoid eye contact. Three seconds second later, I take quick glance, and notice that Spicy isn't looking at me. I decide to approach her. She looks at me again and said, "Hm? What do you want, dragon?" I take a step back. I sit down again and continue watching the Food Souls playing poker. Albeit, they're having their own conversations from time to time, it feels like there's an awkward silence. I tap fingers nervously. After some thinking, I sigh out of impatience with myself. _Dammit … let's just get this over with._ I take my notepad and pencil out of my Inventory and start writing. _I would like to apologize for my overreaction this morning. After seeing how you treated the customers and the staff today, it seems that I may have misjudged your character. I guess you aren't as bad as I thought._ I show it to Spicy. She replied, "I won't sugarcoat it, you are the strangest thing I have ever met, but I appreciate the apology. That said, you have some nerve to approach me like that." I step back even further. She went on, "Scared, aren't you? I'm not surprised. People usually either try to flirt with me or run away except for the customers. Don't think we're going to be friends; I can create a suffering in you at anytime I want. Never forget what the crack of a whip sounds like, understand, pet?" I nod rapidly and run away from her. I head up the stairs as soon as possible while everyone else in the room stares at what just happened. Spicy chuckled, "I always enjoy a good conversation.~"


	11. Chapter 11: Ask Me Anything 1!

_**Huh? Where the heck am**_ I? I was running to the attic, and upon entering, I'm now in some sort of white void. How did this happen? Anyway, what is this?

"_When did you first hear _Bad Apple_?"_

Huh? Who said that? Everything is silent again…. What is going on...? Uh, when did I first hear _Bad Apple_? Well, um, I believe it was in the 8th grade. That's when I also found out about _Touhou Project_, and I've been a fan since.

"_How are you?"_

How am I? I guess I'm doing fine. I'm just confused about the void and the voices I'm hearing, that's all.

"_Unrelated, but I love your [Instagram] page!"_

Thank you! (Though, I think they're confused with the author.) Wait, that's me in another universe! Talk about a weird paradox. Speaking of which, is this an AMA?

"_Favorite animal? :0"_

What's with the emoticon? (Apparently, it _is_ an AMA. That's oddly random, but okay….) Setting that aside, I honestly don't know; there's so many animals I like, I can't really decide. But, I'm guessing my main favorite ones in general are cats, dogs, lizards, foxes, birds, mythical/folkloric creatures, snakes, goats, fish, and axolotls.

"_Where are you from?"_

I'm still from the lone star state, even when I'm stuck in Tierra.

"_Happy vibes?"_

Talking to relatives and friends made me happy during quarantine from the COVID-19 pandemic. Though, if you're referring to now, it's working in Glorywest Grill and interacting with Master Attendant and his Food Souls. Spicy Gluten, not so much. Next question!

"_How long have you been on DA? I think some other people have asked you that before. XD"_

"_**Hi, this is the author, and I've been using DeviantArt for years, but I never actually got an account until the summer of 2018. Back to the character."**_

How long have I been on DeviantArt? Um … I think I've been using DA since probably around 2018. Though, since I'm stuck here with no access to the Internet, I'm quite unsure. Also, I don't think anyone's asked me that.

"_¿Hay una versión español de esta historia?"_ _(Is there a Spanish version of this story?)_

"_**Desafortunadamente, todavía no. Pero, mi mamá y yo estamos trabajando en traducirlo al español."**_

No, not yet, but I think that'll be released soon as long as my mom and I translate this fanfiction. I think a pen pal of mine is likely to be making a Swedish version of this, but I haven't asked about their progress yet.

"_Do you think about word count or length for the chapters?"_

I used to do that back in the day, but no, not in this story. Well, actually, I make sure that the chapters are lengthy sometimes, so I try to come up with ideas, expand upon them, and extend the words for it while being careful not to have problems with the pacing.

_"What is tom yum? I've never heard of it."_

Tom yum (or tom yam) is a type of hot soup in Thailand that is sour and has shrimp. That's why if you see the character's default skin, there's a giant shrimp behind him. It also explains why he likes sour things, as implied by his voice lines.

"_Will your main protagonist have an evil arch nemesis to compete or fight against?"_

"_**Depends on how the story goes in the far future. It's probably likely going to be Boston Lobster from **_**Food Fantasy**'_**s main story."**_

Dude, I've been here for a week. The only enemies here are Dine-and-Dashers and Spicy Gluten.

Upon answering that question, everything shifts back into the attic of the Glorywest Grill in Hilenna. I peer through the window; it's nighttime. I'm still uneasy about Spicy, but thankfully, that AMA has cleared my mind.


	12. Chapter 12: Don't Be A Danny (RPG)

_**I open my eyes and**_ let out a yawn. I get off the bed that Samson bought for me. I'm still a bit weirded out from that AMA, but I feel better than I did yesterday. I could go for a cup of coffee to make the day more pleasant, except they don't have any in this place. I kinda wonder when are we going to get the Food Soul Coffee. Or, maybe even go to Satan's Coffee House, assuming that place still exists. It's really weird how even though the origin of coffee is traced back to Ethiopia from who-knows-when, it's considered to be nicknamed "the demon's drink", according to his story in-game and in the wiki. And, of course, the longest I've been without coffee is about a week, so the withdrawal didn't affect me except for when I woke up at the start of the second chapter.

I head downstairs to the second floor and come across Milk and Black Tea, who had just come out of their room. Milk greeted, "Good morning, Danny RPG. Did you sleep well?" I nod with the corners of mouth tugging into a smile. I crouch and leap upwards to Black Tea's shoulder. She got startled by this, but she quickly regains her composure. I perch onto the shoulders of the Food Soul. Neither characters seem to mind; in fact, they are mildly amused by my action. Black Tea said, "Next time, ask before you do that." The Food Souls walk downstairs to the living room. A familiar rumbling occurs from the summoning room. Looks like we might be getting Coffee after all.

We head downstairs and hear a rumble. It's the same rumble from summoning a Food Soul. Out of curiosity, we step through the doorway under the stairs and walk to the summoning room. Disappointingly, it's not Coffee. Actually, it's bad news: We got Sweet Tofu. Eyes widened, I thought, _Oh, shit…._ Sweet chuckled,"Oh, hello~ Who might you be? And what is that strange thing on your shoulder? Looks kinda cute~" Sweet Tofu is a pretty bizarre but dangerous guy. I read his story once; it was really weird, but I do know that he killed his Master Attendant, and that his brothers are Salty Tofu and (strangely enough) Boston Lobster. This guy is exceedingly unpleasant and creepy as fuck, but not as much as other Food Souls such as Whiskey, Fruit Tart, Spaghetti, and Green Curry. (Maybe a couple of others too, but I'm not that great with names.) He does love rock n' roll, though, I'll give him that. But, frankly, the cons outweigh the pros, and the taste in rock n' roll is the only pro he has.

I cringe at the remark. At least Salty Tofu has more sanity and is less dangerous, but is still as quirky as his older twin counterpart. If I had to choose between Sweet and Salty, it's very obvious who I'm going to pick. Samson answered, "She's Black Tea, Milk, and the dragon on her shoulder is Danny RPG." That's odd, Black Tea and Sweet are supposed to know each other. I think these Food Souls are not the same as the ones from their bios, otherwise things would have gotten worse. Black Tea doesn't look like she knows him, and neither does Milk. Sweet doesn't seem to know these Food Souls either. "Who are you?" Black Tea asked. Sweet smiles warmly. "I'm Sweet Tofu, it's nice to meet you. And mind if I take a closer look at the dragon?" She hesitates for a second, but then said, "Sure." I feel kinda relieved that the Food Souls here aren't the same as the ones from the game's stories. Still, I keep my guard up.

As his hand get close to me, I let out an uncomfortable growl. "Aw, it's purring~" Milk, who appears to be slightly worried, replied, "I think that is that is growl." Regardless, Sweet picks me up as though I'm a cat. I let out an annoyed sigh and refrain from hissing. I'm so, so salty today from this. (Plus, I still haven't had coffee, so withdrawal is playing a role in my bitterness.) He doesn't seem to be aware that I'm sapient. At least, not yet. He remarked, "This is the most unusual pet I've seen." I roll my eyes.

Sweet Tofu is an SR-rank Support Soul. In case if you forget, SR stands for 'Super Rare', even though they're not that rare, ironically enough. Lemme clarify what I mean: Rares are common, Super Rares and Managers (the M-rank Souls) are uncommon, and Ultra Rares are actually the ones that rare. Hope this makes sense. Anyway, Sweet is wearing a strange black and white outfit, and he has a one of those piercings on his belly button. His boots stretch all the way up to his knees. His hair is white, but his bangs are brown. His eyes are heterochromatic, meaning his right eye is magenta and his right eye is white. Quite an unusual color scheme, admittedly, but seeing them up close is actually pretty cool. His breath stinks, though.

Samson said, "I've got to summon another Food Soul, so you guys may want to stand back." He pulls the switch, causing the rings on the platform to spin rapidly. Sweet and I get knocked by the wind, causing him to fall on his back and causing me to fall on him. Milk, Samson, and Black Tea are somehow still standing despite how strong the gust is. Finally the wind dies down. I get off of Sweet. I've been close to that guy long enough. I think I'll see the new Food Soul up on the platform later.

I leave the room and meet with Brownie, Hawthorne Ball, and Bamboo Rice in the living room. Brownie greeted, "Good morning, Danny RPG. Who are the new Food Souls that are in the other room?" I approach him and write _Sweet Tofu and some other guy. I haven__'__t seen the latter yet because spending five minutes with the former is more than enough enough for me to know him. Although, I did pick a familiar aroma on the way here, so I might have a feeling who the second Food Soul may be just by smelling them, even if I haven't met them before._ Meanwhile, I can hear some unfamiliar chatter in the dining area, so the rest of the Food Souls may have started working already. I reckon Rice is the restaurant's supervisor in this game. Usually, in my account, Toast is the supervisor, though I'm not sure what the purpose of the supervisor is.

The characters in the summoning room walk into this room, and my guess on who the second Food Soul is is correct. A gentle, blonde-haired Food Soul with fine-looking shades. He appears to be a businessman, as he wears a suit and tie. This guy is none other than Coffee. That bittersweet aroma he's emanating fills my nostrils and all of my worries seem to melt away in an instant … until Sweet appears again. Regardless, I hold back the urge to just run and hug Coffee. Not because everyone in the fandom loves him (myself included), but because someone can finally brew the Ethiopian drink in this place. Hopefully.

We begin introducing ourselves to the new Food Souls. When Coffee approaches Brownie, he greeted, "Good morning, sir, I am Coffee. You must be butler. Am I correct?" Brownie nodded. "Yes, My name is Brownie. The dragon next to me is Danny RPG; she seems very interested in you." I let out a friendly meow, "_Hello."_ Coffee remarked, "A dragon? How interesting. I've read about them in a fantasy book once, but I've never actually seen one before. I've always imagined that the dragon would much bigger, though." Bambri added, "I've imagined the same thing until I met her. I never knew that dragons can can be the size of cats. She doesn't seem to act like one, though."

"Is that so? Well, then, that makes the dragon an even more unusual creature compared to what I've read in that book."

"Anyway, I'm Bamboo Rice, and this is Big Ah and Little Ah." He briefly points to the bamboo rats on his shoulders.

Hawthorne piped up, "I'm Hawthorne Ball, and the others are working in the kitchen and front of the restaurant right now." Sweet asked, "Aside from cooking and serving these customers, what else do you do?" Samson replied, "We do different jobs every day; some Food Souls work in the kitchen and some work in the dining area. After a while, they switch roles or have another Food Soul take their place if the other runs out of stamina."

"So, depending on their skills, the Food Souls volunteer to do different jobs in the restaurant, then do a different job in the next day, while making sure that the roles stay consistent?"

"Yes, that's correct."

"You're a strange man, but I don't mind~"

"_Look who's talking,"_ I retorted. Unfortunately, despite the sharp remark, no one understood what I said. So, they glance at me, but then focus their attention back towards Master Attendant, Coffee, and Sweet. "_Nevermind,"_ I mumbled. Why do I even bother when I have a one-sided language barrier? After a few more greets, Vodka appears, saying, "Hawthorne, you are needed in the front of the restaurant. Bamboo Rice, you are needed in the kitchen." Tom Yum and Spicy Gluten enter the living room fatigued from their work. Hey, working in a restaurant is not an easy job; I've watched enough episodes of _Kitchen Nightmares_ and _Cutthroat Kitchen_ as an example of how difficult and stressful it can and will be. Plus, I'm sure you guys still remember Chapter 2, right? Yeah, I'm definitely not doing that again for obvious reasons.

Wait, you actually forgot that? Alright then, let's recap: Rice snuck out early to get some ingredients, which is what happened in _Food Fantasy_'s main story. Master Attendant Samson and the Food Souls (minus the M-rank ones) went out to find her. While they're gone, the M-rank Souls and I thought it was a good idea to impress Samson by running the restaurant on our own, which didn't end so well. That's why it's titled _A Recipe For Disaster_ as a reference to _One Little Slip_ by the Barenaked Ladies (no, I'm not joking). On the bright side, we got help from an otaku and a girl who seemed to suspiciously know a few things about Food Souls. When the group came back with Rice and a bunch of ingredients for food, the pair leaves and Samson gives the M-rank Souls and I a pretty stern talk. And that's the end of Chapter 2.

Huh? Why did consider the otaku and the girl suspicious? Their knowledge and experience with Food Souls and running a restaurant, of course. The only possibility of having that knowledge aside from being experienced Master Attendants is that they're secretly members of the Chef's Guild. But hey, that's just a theory, a Game Theory! (Actually, these characters only appeared as ordinary NPCs in the game, but you get the idea. And no, I'm not associated with The Game Theorists in any way possible. I am a fan, though. Hence why this is a fanfiction, eh?)

Ahem, moving on to Chapter 11: The day has been pretty normal, and Coffee has gladly been helping Samson and Rice with his strong leadership skills, and with Brownie on keeping the restaurant peaceful and spotless. Work seems to have run a lot more smoothly for Brownie since Coffee got summoned. It's a good thing because, personally, I don't think Brownie has been looking good lately. As hard as he tries to hide it, Brownie recently developed some bags under his eyes due to a lack of proper rest. I noticed a few days ago that Sandwich and Milk offered to help him with cleaning the place (even if it's dusting that bookshelf in the living room), but Brownie stubbornly insisted that he can take care because he's a solemn and very modest butler. Yeah, right, man. Have you looked into one of the bathroom mirrors recently, Brownie?

Of course, when I said that the day has been normal, it's because Sweet went out and borrowed some money to buy some records and probably a jukebox as far as I know. I know this is the twenty-first century and we have online streaming and CDs, but hey, even Texas Roadhouse has a jukebox. Though, instead of vinyl records, it has a screen to pick a song, and it only plays country music, which is a bummer, because some ZZ Top would be nice. So, yeah, without Sweet around, Glorywest Grill remained pretty easygoing and peaceful, and even more so with the lack of Dine-and-Dashers. Still, we musn't let out guard down; who knows if this is nothing more than the calm before the –

An angry customer starts complaining about the bill and the food. Ungrateful wretch – they didn't even let me finish my sentence! Looks like we got another Dine-and-Dasher. Sandwich is talking to the customer, trying to calm him down and reason things out, but the asshole is verbally attacking him. As it quickly escalated, the Dine-and-Dash customer stands up and grabs Sandwich by the collar of the shirt. Oh, shit, it looks like the enemy has a knife! I must do something! Being someone who strongly hates getting my friends hurt, I jump up to the table and breathe fire onto the customer's face, which isn't hot enough to really burn him, but it's enough to get his face completely singed as if this is a cartoon. As I burn him, he lets go of Sandwich and shrieks in pain. Suck it up, you prick; it's not even that strong.

Still, everyone's eyes widen and their jaws drop. It was like when Monkey D. Luffy insulted Alvida when they first met before she ate that Slip-Slip fruit. That's how dramatic everyone's reactions are when I burned the idiot's face. I remarked, "_You're talking out of your rear and you've hurt my friend. So, shut the fuck up, pay the bill, and leave."_ The customer, who turns out to be a malicious bandit, growled, "You little bitch, I'm going to kill you!" He unholsters his knife and tries to stab me, only to stab table because I dodged off of it. The other patrons grow terrified while Sweet Tofu comes back with a box full of records and CDs. "I'm back~ Did I miss – oh, my." Upon witnessing the fiasco, he calmly joked, "Hey, look. It's lunch _and_ a show." "_Now's not the time for jokes, Sweet!"_ I roared. Meanwhile, the enemy keeps throwing daggers from seemingly nowhere, scaring the customers away while I'm using a table that I've uplifted as a shield from the throwable weapons.

_BANG!_

Black Tea fires her pistols and knocks the bandit's next two knives, thus disarming him for a few seconds. Samson runs to him and punches the bandit in the face, knocking back and stumbling to another table. The bandit nearly falls, but quickly gains his balance. However, Crepe summons a powerful gust that sends him flying to the wall on the far end of the restaurant, narrowly missing Sweet and his box. He puts down the box, grabs the bandit by the back of the shirt and shoves him right far out the door. "AND STAY OUT!" he yelled angrily. Damn, I'm impressed he can be that loud. And angry; that guy always has a weird calm smile on his face.

"That was really reckless, Danny RPG," Black Tea said sternly. "You could have been taken away or worse, killed." Samson added, "Yeah, do you have any idea how stupid it was to set him on fire? You could've also burned down the restaurant!"

"Actually, her fire is very weak, Master Attendant, even if she did breathe fire on the restaurant, the wood wouldn't even be burning. But, still. Don't do that again, is that clear?" I nod regretfully. Sandwich said, "As good as your intentions were, Black Tea and Master Attendant have a point. The other Food Souls could've dealt with the problem, and the dining room wouldn't have gotten this badly trashed." I put the side of my right hand in front of my forehead as I lower my head with a small bow. It's a gesture used to apologize to someone. At least, that's what I saw in _Nioh_…. I've always had a chill yet fiery temper, which I inherited from my dad, and I worry a lot. So, I often snapped and/or panicked when I get stressed pretty badly. Now, it's coming back to bite me. Samson answered, "Your apology is accepted. Now, let's clean up this place. Danny, we'll keep talking later." I nod.

Setting that stern conversation aside, Sandwich is right, the front of the restaurant is badly trashed. Still, we sweep up the debris from shattered glasses and plates. The wood from the tables have been chipped and have gashes from the knives that were thrown. Samson and Brownie put the daggers themselves away to his office, so I'm guessing there's a safe or something that'll put the weapons away for safekeeping. Everything else remained intact except for one chair that broke from Crepe's gust. An hour later, the dining room is fully cleaned and they start cooking some dinner. However, while they're doing that, I sneak to the attic, reluctant to eat anything. Even if the place smells really good from whatever it is they're cooking, I decide to stay up here and sleep on the animal bed Samson bought for me.

The kitchen is filled with the aroma of Gloriville recipes that have been prepared by Hawthorne, Rice, Bamboo Rice, and Sweet Tofu. When they finish cooking, Sweet Tofu announced, "Hey~ The food is ready, hee hee." They hand the food out to the other members of the staff, and they start eating. Such a strange thing to do for Food Souls; even if it's unnecessary, Master Attendant Samson makes sure that they've had a healthy and proper meal at least once a day. But, there is someone that Samson and possibly a few Food Souls have noticed they're missing.

"Hey, guys," Samson asked, "have you seen Danny RPG?" Most of the Food Souls said simple scattered responses such as "No" and "Nope, sorry." Vodka said something like "Not a clue," and the rest either suddenly realize that the dragon isn't here or they simply shake their heads briefly before continuing to eat. However, Rice answered, "I think … I saw, her, going up the … attic. She seemed … ashamed, and regretful … about what happened…."

Jeez … I try to help a friend who needed help, and I screw it up for being so reckless. Being cranky from the lack of caffeine definitely won't be an excuse for this mess. Then, I wonder, what if this is going to be an elephant in the room that repeats itself? What if I become a liability from being a fire-breathing dragon. Hell, what if I lose control and really injure or even kill someone? Will I be kicked out? Have I become a liability because of the incident? Is Spicy Gluten going to punish me forever with her whip? I think I prefer that over getting kicked out of the restaurant.

Someone knocks on the door and gently opens it. It's Samson. He asked, "Hey, can we talk?" I avoid looking at him and pretend to sleep. He closes the door, turns on the light in the room, and walks to me. He sits down next to me. "Listen, you're probably asleep by now, but I just want to tell you that we're not mad you. We just didn't know how to react to what you did." I open my eyes and look at him. He went on, "I'm not sure if some of the Food Souls have or haven't forgiven you, but I have. Danny, why did you set that guy's face on fire?" I hesitate for a second, but my notepad glitches into existence in my hand along with the pen. I write _I've always had a short temper, but I try as much as I can to keep under control by maintaining a cool mentality. Some time ago, I promised myself that the next time I see a friend get hurt by some wretch, I would find that person who caused them pain, and get back at them. I would've interfered by insulting the bandit and distract him from hurting Sandwich any further so I can kick the bandit out, but when I noticed the dagger in his holster, I knew I had to think fast immediately and go with my instincts. Of course, it obviously didn't end well, and my instinct are not that great._ It took like, five minutes to write all of this in a notepad.

When I finish writing my explanation, I show it to Samson. He responded, "Well, I wouldn't say that it didn't end well. Even though the front of the restaurant got trashed again, no one really got hurt. Including Sandwich. I know you want to help others, and you have good intentions when you act like that. But, I'm not gonna lie, it wasn't cool what you did. I'd just ask that you would be more mindful of what you're doing and try not to act as much on impulse, okay?" I nod in agreement. I write _Okay_. "Now, come on, "Samson went on, "Let's head downstairs. I figured you could use something to eat." I thought about it for a second, then I nodded. _"Sure."_


	13. Chapter 13: Foodtale

_**In the morning after having**_ that nice dinner with the rest of the staff, I decide to chill out downstairs in the living room, and do a bit of dusting using the fur on my tail before Brownie shows up. Though, frankly, Brownie has been cleaning the place so often, there isn't much of anything to clean. Maybe Coffee too, but I haven't been paying much attention to that. Also, he's only been here for a day, so I can't say anything else about that.

After all that dusting, I pick up a book from the shelf on how to make Light Kingdom dishes to kill some time. Of course, roughly a few minutes later, Master Attendant Samson walks downstairs. He greeted, "Good morning, Danny RPG." I wave at him in response. He went on, "I'm going to summon a few more Food Souls today, and we'll be training them along with Sweet Tofu and Coffee. Once everyone's awake, we'll plan for the day how the we'll handle our jobs and assign the new Food Souls their tasks for the day so we can see which jobs do they prefer doing." I nod in response. I write _I've heard that some Food Souls, depending on their rank, are best suited for different jobs. For example, Sandwich and Hawthorne Ball are M-rank Food Souls, meaning their stamina and Cooking abilities make them them very suitable for working in the restaurant while the R-rank, SR-rank, and UR-rank Food Souls are suited for combat and food delivery. Of course, M-rank Food Souls, because of their stamina, are also suited for food delivery._ I show my writing to Samson. He seems a bit confused about what wrote. He asked, "What do you mean by these ranks? I've never heard of them. Though, I do know that some Food Souls are indeed suited for certain jobs, but I'd rather have them choose a job they'd like and then switch to another one, which I'm sure you've noticed by how this place works." I nod in agreement. I reply by writing _You haven't heard of these ranks? I thought it was something everyone knows about._

"No…? Not really…. Who told you that?"

_Can't say I remember, but I do know the meaning of those ranks; _M_ means "Manager," _R_ means "Rare" (though, ironically, they're pretty common to summon)_, SR_ means "Super Rare" (which are actually uncommon to be summoned), and _UR_ means "Ultra Rare," which are the one that are actually rare to summon. At least, that's what I was told. Now, there was one I heard a rumor about a long time ago; _SP_, I think, but I don't know what it means, and I don't know if it's true._

"That's … some pretty strange logic, but it's not as strange as your knowledge and way of thinking. Anyway, would you like to see who we're summoning today?"

_I don't see why not._

I climb onto Samson's shoulders, and he walks to the summoning room. After adding a pouch of embers from one of the closets into the machine, he pulls a switch that is on the right side of the machine, which turns it on, and the rings start rotating at a casual speed. The outer ring rotates clockwise while the inner ring rotates counterclockwise again. He then pulls the switch on the right, causing the rings to spin very rapidly. Two wisps of light materialize and meet at the center of the rings. There is a powerful gust of wind occurring, pushing Master Attendant. I almost get knocked off his shoulders, but I grip onto him tightly. Along with the wind, a silhouette appears on the platform. The light and the gust diminish, the machine whirs down, and the rings rotate back in their original speed. The silhouette reveals to be a cheery and self-confident Food Soul wearing a red and white uniform from the Napoleonic era; he kinda looks like he's from a marching band because of his hat and the design of his uniform. But, I might be confused with a different style of uniforms. Still, I know who this guy is, and the outfit gives away who he is. He also carries a fancy-looking rifle and a small yellow and white flag with a chibi picture of his face.

Napoleon Cake greeted, "_Bonjour~_ Give the battle to me, and victory shall belong to us. By the way, are you good at making desserts?" If it's one thing this guy and I have in common is that we have a sweet tooth. Though, I'm more of a foodie. His presence activates Brownie's linked skill (kind of a bummer that it's not B-52 when I found out), and Napoleon's linked skill can only be activated by a guy named Pastel de Nata, but he's not here. Also, Napoleon activates Pastel's linked skill, so it's the same way Black Tea and Milk's skills are linked. Maybe not yet; it's probably likely that'll be the next guy Samson will summon. With those four Food Souls together, it's gonna be a hell of a team. Probably not the most powerful one, but the thought of it is pretty exciting.

Samson replied, "Desserts? I haven't really thought of dong that. I'm not very good at it, and I don't know if the others are good at that either." I replied, _"I dunno, Samson, maybe it's not a bad idea to include desserts onto the menu. Or we can just make them for fun."_ As soon as Napoleon sees me, his eyes widened and he bends over. "Whoa!" he exclaimed in awe. "A dragon! I thought those were fictional and a myth! Is this a real one?!" He kneels, picks me up from the torso, and stands up. His eyes are so full of wonder and excitement; he's like a kid who sees a life-sized Firebolt up close in Universal Studios. He asked, "Is it true you can breathe fire?" I nod.

"Can you talk?"

I shake my head.

"You can understand what I'm saying?"

I nod again. He puts me against his chest and his hand is placed below me so that I wouldn't fall. With his other hand, he gently scratches my scalp. Involuntarily, a deep rumbling grows in my throat. His eyes somehow even wider, and he gets so full of awe, cartoon stars can be seen in his pupils. "Wow!" he said excitedly. "You can purr too? You're like a cat who is a dragon." Is that what my throat is doing? Purring? Dude, humans don't do that! Is _this_ some sort of feline instinct? It kind of explains why Hawthorne named me Maolong aside from my size. Napoleon went on, "I should give you a name! How about 'Cat-Dragon' or 'Napoleon Jr.?'" _"Pffffft. That's actually funny,"_ I remarked. Napoleon looks confused. "Huh? What's so funny?" Samson lets out a soft chuckle and answered, "She already has a name. Her name is Danny RPG." "'RPG'?" he asked. "As in 'role-playing games?'"

"Apparently, yeah. That's exactly what she said."

"Really? Since she can't talk, how did you know about that?"

"She writes."

"Oh, that makes sense."

"Well, I'm going to summon another Food Soul for a mission to get a powerful Food Soul that's really hard to get. I'm hoping they would come in handy to protect us from Fallen Angels."

"Alright then~ Let's see who we'll get."

Samson pulls the switch again. The rings spin rapidly, creating a strong gust, knocking Napoleon's hat off. He exclaimed, "Hey, my hat! Whoa!" Napoleon almost falls but he holds his ground. My body flailed when that happened, so I quickly grabbed his cape and the collar of his shirt to prevent falling. Of course, once Napoleon successfully holds his ground, I climb back onto his shoulders. The winds decrease and the rings on the platform slow down. A figure appears on the platform of the summoning machine.

It's – wait, who the hell is this guy? The new Food Soul has light brown hair that fades to a darker tone at the tips, and he has brown skin. There are freckles over his cheekbones, right below his light brown eyes. His turtleneck sweater is a darker brown color, the sleeves are a beige tone with pale yellow rhombuses circling where his elbows are and a zigzag marking around near the end of his long sleeves. Rather than typical sleeves, these ones in particular grow wide like bell-bottoms for arms and there are metal pads strapped to his shoulders that match the color of the rhombuses and the stripes. The bottom of the sweater has a yellow band around him that also matches the patterns and shoulder pads. His pants are an even darker brown, which stretch almost all the way to the platform he's standing on, and the holes where his feet go through are pretty wide too, but not much like actual bell bottoms. Well, I guess they kind of are, though I doubt this guy originated from the 60's. Oh, yeah, close to the bottom of his pants, there is also a yellow marking that goes around each leg, which also match the other markings on his clothes. The Food Soul holds a purple staff in his hand, which has an orange orb at the top end, including a smaller blue one above. He doesn't seem to be wearing shoes – just silver-colored socks and matching gloves. Also, he has cat ears and a tail, with the fur matching the rest of his tail.

I've no idea who this Food Soul is; I've never seen him before, nor have I read or heard about him. Not even in the wiki and Amino! Who is this guy? And why does he have the Delta Rune printed on his sweater? Also, he faintly smells sweet, like cinnamon and something else I can't get my talon on. The Food Soul looks at the stairs and walks down from the platform. The Food Soul asked with a smile, "Howdy! I'm Butterscotch Cinnamon Pie. How may I help you?"

My jaw hits the floor. "Butterscotch Cinnamon Pie"?! Isn't that the pie created by Toriel in Toby Fox's indie role-playing game _Undertale_? How is this even possible?! If this is _Food Fantasy_'s main story, then why are there characters I've never seen before, even in the game? Could this really be an AU? An AU where the story is the same but there are characters that don't exist elsewhere? At least, not outside of the fandom. I mean, I know the whole thing, even my life, is fictionalized, but this is a whole new level. If an OC based on a food from another video game is here, then what about the other OCs? I bet there are also Fallen Angels that don't exist within the game, but exist elsewhere … such as here? What is going on...?

Wait, wait, I think I got it now; I bet since there are human and elf characters in this world, especially ones that don't exist in the original _Food Fantasy_, maybe it makes sense that there'd be Food Souls and maybe even Fallen Angels that would only exist in this AU. I mean, there was that guy in Archive of Our Own who made a Food Soul OC along with their own bio. I mean, this is fanfiction, after all, so it makes perfect sense! Since this guy is based on a pie from a game, and people have been inspired to recreate it over the next five years since the release of _Undertale_, I bet this guy is about five years old, or even less. I mean that's how Food Souls and Fallens came to be, right?

"'Butterscotch Cinnamon Pie'?" Napoleon asked as he picks up his hat, "That's a really cool name for a dessert. I'm Napoleon Cake. The dragon on my shoulder is Danny RPG. And … actually I don't think you've told me your name. Though, since you summoned me, I know you're my Master Attendant." Samson replied, "Yes. I'm Samson Seromat. It's a pleasure to meet both of you." Huh, so that's his last name. Never knew that. After picking up his hat, Napoleon dusts it and puts it back on.

Butterscotch asked, "So, what are you guys? I mean, I know what my name is, I know I have a moral conscience, and I know a few very basic things, but I don't know anything else from the outside world. Like, what's a dragon?" The rest of us get impressed by what he said. How old is he? Napoleon answered, "Well, a dragon is a scaly creature and usually has usually has wings and can breathe fire. Like Danny for example." I wave briefly at Butterscotch.

Samson added, "It's pretty hard to explain everything, so I'll tell you about the most important things to help you get started. First off, you're a spirit known as a Food Soul, like Napoleon Cake. I'm a human, which means that I'm mortal unlike you and Napoleon. I'm a Master Attendant, meaning that I own a restaurant, which is a place where you eat, and I work with Food Souls. We also get to fight really bad spirits known as Fallen Angels, which are currently wreaking havoc in our world. As for the dragon … we really don't know much about her other than her personality. I hope that makes sense and gives you an idea of what's going on." Butterscotch replied, "I think so. There are parts that I don't really understand yet, but I'll learn as go along. But, thank you for explaining some of the things about the outside world." Master Attendant said, "You're welcome. Now come on, you two. Let's give you a tour of the place and help you get started on your new jobs with the others."

"There are others? Like me and Napoleon Cake?"

"Yes, the ones I have are nice, so you should be able to get along with them."

"Okay, sure. Let's go."

We walk to the living room. Crepe is sitting on the couch reading a magazine, Milk and Black Tea are having a conversation about Fallen Angels, and Sweet Tofu is chilling out in one of the chairs, listening to some music in his portable CD player and headphones. Brownie and Rice are sitting at the coffee table, with the former teaching Rice in how to speak properly. Butterscotch's eyes are filled with wonder while Napoleon feels relaxed by the atmosphere of the place. He asked, "Wow, so this is the living room, right?" Samson answered, "Yes, and the people in front of you are all Food Souls. The two women over there are Black Tea and Milk, the butler and the white-haired Food Soul are Brownie and Rice, and the guy sitting in the chair is Sweet Tofu. He's new too. The girl reading the magazine is Crepe." Napoleon asked, "Is she new as well?" Samson replied, "Not exactly, she's one of the Food Souls who have been with me since I opened this restaurant."

Sweet takes off his headphones and smiled warmly. "Well, hello there~ I'm Sweet Tofu. You two must be new around here. I'm the same; I've only been here for a day along with a businessman named Coffee."

"Greetings," Brownie added.

"Hello…." Rice greeted.

"Master Attendant," Black Tea said, "While it is nice to have new Food Souls, you should consider training them before continuing with that particular mission. Besides, we only have two more weeks before the deadline, so there isn't much of a rush." Milk added, "Yes, and while Coffee got used to his new job, we should consider training Sweet Tofu to be more capable of handling different tasks since he hardly ever appeared yesterday in the morning." Samson responded, "Hmm, you're right, you two. I should stop summoning Food Souls for a few days until all of the newer ones have gotten accustomed to do various jobs in the restaurant and outside."

After a while, and after some greetings from the Food Souls who are in the kitchen and dining area, we quickly get started on opening the restaurant and serving the first few customers. So far, Butterscotch and Napoleon are working as waiters with Tom Yum, Sandwich, and Bambri (who, fortunately for me and the patrons, is currently wearing the clothes Crepe bought for him) while Brownie, Spicy Gluten, Hawthorne Ball, Rice, Vodka, and her gyrfalcon Andre are working in the kitchen. As for the rest of the Food Souls, they went out to run a few errands like fighting Fallen Angels and looking for ingredients from the markets near the Glorywest Grill and where the Fallens live (which I believe is the Secret Forest and Parisel). As for me, I'm making sure Vodka doesn't get drunk while working in the kitchen.

It is bright outside with clear sunny skies. A quiet child with brown shorts and a blue t-shirt with two magenta stripes across around the shirt step into the kitchen of their house with a sentient golden flower in their hands. They don't have a specified gender, nor do they mention their age, and prefers staying quiet about their past. A monster with white fur, white horns, mahogany eyes, and fangs protruding from their mouth is in the kitchen wearing casual clothes. The monster greeted, "Good morning, my child. Did you sleep well?" The child nods happily as an apparition only visible to the child looks at them with concern. They didn't exactly sleep well as they had a very strange dream last night about unusual spirits and peculiar creatures like the monsters they know. Except, the monsters the child and the apparition saw were malevolent and unlike the monsters they've befriended, bonded, and freed from their underground prison.

After the child, the flower, and the goat-like monster eat their breakfast, the child and the flower bid their adoptive mother goodbye as they and the apparition head out to play with their friends. A reptilian monster the size of the child greets them. "Yo, Frisk, Flowey. How're you two doing?" The reptilian monster kid lacks arms. The flower answered, "Eh, it could've been better; Frisk had some weird dream about monsters that kept them up all night. Based on their description, they don't seem like the monsters from the Underground." Monster Kid asked, "Really?" Frisk nods in response. They don't seem very happy. Monster kid, noticing their worries, asked, "Well, how about we hang out at Grillby's? Sans is usually there, and he always knows how to cheer you up." Frisk starts smiling again. "Sure," they said.

They walk to a town very close to the suburban area of the neighborhood they live in. It is mostly populated by monsters. However, some humans live there as well, but a few of them don't get along with the monsters very well, leading to some issues with the PTA meetings in the school the children attend to that is between the nonexistent boundary between the neighborhood and the town. This place that these inhabitants live in, the king of the monsters dubbed it "New Home." Despite him being a great king, the monster is terrible at names. In the edge of the town next to the suburbs, there is a friendly local diner named Grillby's, which is owned by a silent fire monster whose name happens to be Grillby. Inside, a goofy skeleton wearing black shorts with white stripes, a black shirt, and a blue jacket is chilling in the bar area of the diner, practicing puns with the owner and bartender of Grillby's. In his left bony hand is a bottle of ketchup he's drinking out of.

"… and so I said to Snowdrake, 'Hey, I think that guy's funny bone is broken, because that wasn't cool,'" the skeleton uttered. Grillby snorts laughter at the skeleton's funny story. Suddenly, the door opens, and Frisk, Monster Kid, and Flowey enter the diner. The skeleton greeted with a wide smile, "'Sup, kiddos?" Monster Kid replied, "Hey, Sans. Can we talk?"

"Sure, thing. What's on your mind?"

"Well, Frisk had this strange dream last night, and we kinda hope you'd make some sense out of it."

"Wouldn't it be more convenient to talk to Alphys about it?"

Frisk explains the dream they had. Suddenly, Sans isn't as smiling as much as he initially did. He responded, "Huh, I kinda see why you'd talk to me about it. Hey, listen, kid, I think it'd be much better if you talk to Alphys about that dream…. I'm not sure if I can –"

The door opens again. Another skeleton enters the restaurant. "Hey, Sans," he called out. The shorter skeleton replied, "Yeah, bro?" Although the other skeleton is taller than Sans, he is Sans's younger brother.

The skeleton said, "You seriously need to see this; I can't tell if you're pranking across time and space again or if this is genuinely an anomaly." Sans looks confused. He replied, "That's odd, I don't remember pulling a prank on you today. I'm going to take a look at it; if it really is something unusual, then maybe Alphys can explain it." Frisk asked, "Can we come too?" "Sure," Sans answered. Flowey asked, "Hey, do you think it's got to do with that dream of yours?"

"I don't know, but let's find out."

Impressively, it's been three hours since the Food Souls and I started working, and I haven't heard of any trouble at the front of the restaurant. Although, Vodka has tried drinking the alcohol we keep for cooking, but I stop her successfully each time, much to her annoyance. She asked, "Oh, come on, Danny RPG. Can't I have a tiny sip of that wine?" I shake my head with a frown and show her a page of my notepad reading _Not until the end of the day, Vodka. Master Attendant has made that very clear. We need to show these Souls our best impression. Then, you can drink to your heart's desire once we're done for the day._ "Fine," the alcoholic Food Soul grumbled. Andre rolls his eyes while he stands on a perch Samson got for him recently.

Monster Kid, Sans, Flowey, and Frisk enter the skeleton brothers' house as they are led by the taller skeleton into his room on the second floor of the house. The room has decorations that make the place feel somewhat childish. It has a purple rug with flames printed on the edges over the carpet floor, the left end of the house has a brand-new bed as the previous one had been recently transformed into a functioning car, and next to the bed is a table containing a collection of action figures. On the end of the room in front of the door, there is a pirate flag above a few papers pinned to the wall. Next to it is a bookshelf that have a large collection of books from a variety of genres, including books intended for children. At the side of the shelf is a closet door, which the taller skeleton seems to be worried about. On the right end of the room is a window behind an old computer, and in a corner near the entrance to the room is a cardboard box filled with bones, which a small white dog is hiding in.

The skeleton said, "It's in the closet; I just hope it hasn't disappeared yet. When I opened the door, the inside was completely black and the light switch couldn't work." Sans approaches the door and opens it. The white pupils in his eyesockets disappear. "Sans," Frisk asked, "what is this…?" Sans remains silent. Before anyone could say or do anything, the dog jumps out of the box with a bone in his mouth and lets out a muffled _"Arf!"_ as he runs through the darkness in what is supposed to be the closet. The tall skeleton exclaimed, "Hey! Come back here!" He chases after the annoying dog as Sans exclaimed, "Papyrus, wait!" Monster Kid asked, "Should we go after them…? Frisk?" Without saying a word, Frisk runs into the closet, and Flowey exclaimed, "Frisk, what are you doing?!"

Inside what is supposed to be Papyrus's closet, there is a dark void leading to seemingly nowhere. Papyrus successfully captures the dog, and Frisk and the other monsters catch up with him. Sans, on high alert, said, "We should head back out." But the door suddenly slams shut. Flowey exclaimed, "Hey wait a minute!" The only monster that remains outside is Monster Kid. He yelled, "Guys! I can't open the door! I'm going to go get Alphys!" Monster Kid runs off.

Papyrus uttered, "Uh-oh." There is a sudden breeze blowing at them, and they group suddenly falls into the darkness of the void.

Unfortunately, despite my (and Andre's) efforts, Vodka still ends up getting drunk. Unintentionally, though, as it was more of an impulsive force of habit for her. Or, she could have been parched from working. Holy shit, she almost drank the whole bottle! Jeez, even with the attempts to distract her with cooking, she ends up getting a drink, or rather a few massive gulps. Rice, Andre, and I escort Vodka into the living room before she could collapse. Vodka, with her face blushing, complained, "_Hic!_ I'm not drunk! Leave me alone! And keep your hands off me. Alcohol is the only thing that comforts me." Vodka's legs collapse and she falls onto the couch. Eyes closed, she snores softly. The rest of us sigh quietly.

All of a sudden, I hear some faint, muffled screaming from behind the stairs on the bottom floor, followed by a raucous crash. Vodka continues snoring. I cringe as I glance at Rice before looking at the door under the stairs. The _STAFF ONLY_ door opens, and Butterscotch enters the living room with his staff. He asked, "I came here as soon as I heard a strange noise. Are you girls okay?" Rice answered, "Yes … we're fine…. But the noise, came from, over there…." She points to where the noise came from.

I try to wake up Vodka shaking her shoulders then her head. She whines something incoherently and falls back asleep. Andre summons some ice magic as he flies around the room, and directs the magic towards the couch. Vodka suddenly awakens, and she and the couch get covered in frost that is barely melting. She shakes off the frost on herself, saying in annoyance, "Alright, alright, I'm awake. What is it, you guys?" Butterscotch answered, "There's something strange going on in the restaurant, and we're going to investigate. It could be one of those 'Fallen Angels' that Master Attendant talked about." Rice utters a short, "Right."

Napoleon enters the living room, "Butterscotch Cinnamon Pie, what's going on? We need to get to work, so we can make some delicious sweets." Butterscotch replied, "There's something strange going on, older brother. We're just about to investigate. Would you like to help us?" Napoleon think about it, before answering, "Sure."

Napoleon grabs his rifle from seemingly nowhere, and Butterscotch tightly grips his staff as the two orbs on it start glowing. Andre and Vodka prepare some more ice magic. Rice and I let our guards up, and we all approach to the door. Rice opens it. We walk with caution towards the source of the noise, which is seems to be in one of the closets. We immediately start hearing voices. We decide to eavesdrop on them while we have our attacks prepared. The first voice, a male one asked, "Uurrrgh…. Papyrus, are you alright?" "Papyrus"? I know that name. A second male voice answered, "I'm alright, Sans. Human, what about you?" A child's voice answered, "I'm okay. Where's Flowey?" "Flowey"? No fucking way. No, it can't be. It's just impossible. A rude voice answered, "Get off of me, smiley trashbag; I can't breathe!" The first voice answered, "Whoops, sorry, weed. Didn't know I'm crushing ya." I chuckle softly at those remarks. This is going to be very, very, interesting. Hm…. What do you think? Papyrus asked, "Where are we?" – _thunk!_ – "Ouch! Wait, these are wooden shelves! Are we in a closet?" A high-pitched bark is heard from the door. Papyrus said with a tone of annoyance, "Of course the dog is here." Sans remarked, "I guess you can say that –"

"Don't say it," Papyrus interrupted.

"– we've become skeletons in a closet."

The child's voice giggles, followed by groans of annoyance and another bark. Something small starts scratching the door.

I write in my notepad, _"Guys, we don't have to attack. I don't think whoever is in that closet is making a ruckus on purpose. Let's just open the door and ask questions first before fighting."_ I show my notepad to the Food Souls. "Okay," Vodka answered. Rice added, "Sure…." Butterscotch answered, "That sounds like a good idea." Napoleon added, "Agreed." Rice opens the door and she turns on the light for the closet. The inside of the closet has, aside from cleaning supplies, two goofy skeletons, a small human child, and a disgruntled golden flower with a face. The child, which I can tell by their appearance that that is Frisk, is putting Flowey back in a flowerpot they're carrying.

An awkward silence between us stands in the air. Sans asked, "Don't you know how to greet a few new pals? Go on and shake my hand." Papyrus said sternly, "Sans, don't you dare." Still, he reaches out with an outstretched hand. Butterscotch grabs his hand an a flatulent noise is emitted. Papyrus groans as Frisk laughs. I laugh too. Sans chuckled, "Heheheh, the old whoopee cushion in the hand trick. It's _always_ funny. Anyways, do you mind telling us why we're in a closet?" Vodka answered, "Honestly, we don't have a clue; we just heard some crashing coming from this room, so we came to investigate." Sans replied, "Is that so? Back in our home, my brother Papyrus said there was something weird going on in his closet, so we went to his room to investigate. Next thing we know is that we fell into a void and landed here, wherever 'here' is." Flowey asked, "As much as I want this conversation to go on, can we please get out of this room? It's getting claustrophobic and stuffy in here." Papyrus asked, "Sure thing. Humans, would you kindly let us out of this room? I agree with Flowey here." Butterscotch answered, "Sure, the living room is this way."

We lead the characters from _Undertale_ to our living room. I hop onto the couch as Sans approaches me. He asked, "Hey, there, you're some kind of dragon, aren't you?" I nod. He then asked Rice, "What's their name?" Rice answered, "Her name, is Danny RPG…."

"As in 'role-playing games?'"

"Mm-hm," Rice nodded.

"That's an odd name for a dragon. Do you guys play video games or something?"

"No," Napoleon answered, "we work in a restaurant, and we just happen to have a cat-like dragon who calls herself that."

"Anyways, I'm Sans. Sans the skeleton, and this my younger brother Papyrus. This two are Frisk and Flowey."

"Howdy," Butterscotch greeted, "I'm Butterscotch Cinnamon Pie, and this is Napoleon Cake, Rice, and you two are…?" Vodka responded, "Vodka. And this is my gyrfalcon Andre. It is nice to meet you." Butterscotch added, "Yes, it is a pleasure to be of your acquaintance." Papyrus remarked, "'Butterscotch Cinnamon Pie'? What a coincidence! That's the name of those pies Toriel likes to bake for Frisk and Flowey." Butterscotch added, "It's certainly a strange coincidence; I feel as though I know you guys and yet we've never met." We've never met before, but I do know you guys too.

Samson enters the living room, asking, "Hey, guys, where have you been? We need your help serving – who are these people?" Sans answered, "Long story short, we fell into a void and crashed into this place, and now we're introducing ourselves. I'm Sans, and this is Papyrus, Flowey, Frisk, and the dog is Toby. Let's just say we're not from around here."

Papyrus added, "Yeah, and everything looks so different, like we're in one of those shows our friend Alphys likes to watch. It's as if, as Alphys would put it, we've been isekai'd to another world." Frisk replied, "I think we have." And based on what they said, I think they got into this universe the same way Kris and Susie fell into the Dark World in _Deltarune_, only instead of characters from that game and instead of the Dark World, we get characters from _Undertale_ and the world of _Food Fantasy_. Could Dr. Gaster be behind this? That guy is very full of mystery.

Eh? How is it that I know the Delta Rune and these characters? Dude, I'm a gamer. I've played _Undertale_ and _Deltarune_ before; I'm a huge fan of Toby Fox's creations. Flowey asked, "Hey, Sans, since you can teleport, how about you use one of your 'shortcuts' to get us back home?" Sans answered, "Sorry, pal, I can only travel short distances, and I don't think it's possible for me to teleport to another world. I tried it once back in Snowdin a few years ago, and I ended up in a pile of garbage in Waterfall. Maybe Dr. Alphys can figure out what to do once M.K. tells her what's going on."

After hearing Monster Kid's story at her house, Alphys decides to give Sans a call. But, there isn't an answer. She tries again and again. "Any luck?" M.K. asked. Alphys answered, "N-no, not at all. Sans might be lazy, but he always answers the phone when I'm calling him. The phone he has is designed to pick up the signal from my phone regardless of whether there's any signal or not for the phones humans typically use. The only way, Sans isn't getting the call is if he's in _isekai_."

"_'Isekai'?_ What's that?"

"It's an anime term meaning "another world." It's a very popular trope in anime and manga. Now, come on, help me carry my equipment to Papyrus's room so we can investigate this anomaly."

Abruptly, there is a commotion in the front of the restaurant. Sounds like another Dine-and-Dasher. Samson said to the characters from _Undertale_, "Wait here." Master Attendant, the Food Souls, and I rush to the dining area. We lure the Fallen Angel to the Dine-and-Dash arena. Butterscotch asked, "Is that a Fallen Angel?" Napoleon answered, "Yes! We must take it down as soon as possible!"

Unfortunately, since our strongest Food Souls are out, and since Napoleon is inexperienced, we could hardly take that Uke Mochi down. Even with the help of the other Food Souls, this particular one is stronger than any of the other Fallens we've faced so far. Sans and Papyrus enter the room, and are shocked to see what is going on. The Uke Mochi is about to use her strongest attack, Crowd Control (also known as Devouring World), to finish us off when suddenly, Sans runs to the heat of the battle and summons three enormous dragon skulls with glowing blue eyes. These skulls, known as Gaster Blasters, can pack a mean punch depending on your LOVE and Karmic Retribution.

You'll only see something like this in _Undertale_'s Genocide Route and the fandom. You see, if you're new to _Undertale_ too the same way you're new to Food Fantasy, in the former you have EXP. EXP is an acronym meaning "Execution Points." A way of quantifying the pain you have inflicted on others. When you kill someone in Undertale, your EXP increases. When you have enough EXP, your LOVE (or LV for short) increases. LOVE, too, is an acronym. It stands for "Level of Violence." A way of measuring someone's capacity to hurt. The more you kill, the easier it becomes to distance yourself. The more you distance yourself, the less you will hurt. The more easily you can bring yourself to hurt others. If he's up against a very strong Uke Mochi, and if the Stats in _Undertale_ and _Deltarune_ can apply to _Food Fantasy_, then maybe the Fallen Angel's EXP is very high, but not to the point where her LOVE is at twenty. Back to the story.

Sans summons these Gaster Blasters, and they fire at the Uke Mochi as he also uses a really cool bone attack at the Fallen. My theory was right. No sooner than the skeleton brothers use their attacks, and the Uke Mochi faints and starts dissipating. Sans declares to the Fallen, "Get dunked on." Papyrus is petrified. "Sans…." "I know, bro," Sans replied, with his white pupils gone. "I know." Instinctively, Butterscotch and Papyrus rush to the Uke Mochi and use their magic to start healing the enemy. Sans asked, "Papyrus, Butterscotch Cinnamon Pie, what are you two doing?" Papyrus answered, "We're healing the enemy." The Uke Mochi asked weakly, "Why are you doing this?" Papyrus replied with a kind smile, "Because I believe in you! You can do a little better at being good! Even if you don't think so! I promise." Butterscotch added, "I'm with Papyrus on this one. Anyone, even a Fallen Angel can do good if they can just try. So please, don't take this second chance for granted and make difference in who you are." As the two characters are healing the Fallen Angel, parts of the Uke Mochi that are dissipating are rematerializing. A few moments later, the Fallen is as good as new. She shapeshifts to her disguised form. "Thank you," she uttered. "I promise to pay my bill next time I come here." She walks out of Glorywest Grill.

Sans's phone starts playing _Dogsong_. He picks it up and answers it, "Hey, Alphys, how are you doing?" I can faintly hear Alphys's voice say, "Sans! Thank god for answering the phone! I've opened a portal between here and where you are, so you should be able to come back." Sans piped up, "That's great, Alphys! I'll let the others know right away." He tells Papyrus, "Come on, bro. We're finally going home." Papyrus's eyesockets widen. "Really? Wowie! I can't wait to go back there and tell the others of this fascinating adventure!" We walk out of the room and quickly find out that Frisk and Flowey witnessed the whole battle. Still, that didn't matter. After saying some goodbyes, the group from _Undertale_ walk back to the door of that closet, which now leads to Papyrus's bedroom, which has a bunch of cables and devices that I've never seen before, nor do I know how to describe them. But, I do know that Alphys and Monster Kid are there, so I'm guessing those devices came from Alphys's lab in either the Underground or the Surface. The group walks through the doorway, and they close the door. Butterscotch reopens it, only to find out that the room has returned to being an ordinary storage closet. I guess you could say this was an … _anomaly between worlds_, am I right?


End file.
